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Evidence from the province’s investigation portends a lot of finger-pointing on the troubled $ 2.2 billion light rail system
Publication date:
June 11, 2022 • 19 hours ago • 5 minutes reading • 7 comments Photo file: LRT train sitting idle on the rail at OC Transpo Belfast Yard. Photo by Errol McGuigan / Postmedia
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French train maker Alstom told the LRT provincial inquiry that the city of Ottawa and contractor Rideau Transit Group knew the $ 2.2 billion Confederation Line was not ready for full launch, but the city still moved on.
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In an introductory statement to the committee of inquiry, Alstom, a RTG subcontractor, said: “Instead of further delaying the start of the revenue service, the city chose to launch the system by September 14, 2019, no matter what.
“In addition, the city has refused to increase revenue services through a soft start, an industry-standard operational approach to allow a new system to shake off operational and maintenance issues before taking on full travel capacity.”
The result was predictable, says Alstom; the city went after an X-ray for flaws.
Alstom has not dealt directly with LRT issues so far. The most public response from the company was when Mayor Jim Watson summoned the Chief Executive Officer of Ottawa City Hall in June 2019 to receive assurances when the trains will be ready.
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Jim Watson, far left, met with Alstom and RTG executives in 2019. Alstom CEO Henri Pupart-Lafarge is on the far right. Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News
The commission of inquiry set up by the provincial government is tasked with investigating the damage to the LRT Stage 1 and the selection of the city by the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) as its contractor. Judge William Hurrigan is the commissioner who will chair the hearings, which are expected to begin on Monday. Piles of evidence gathered by the commission’s lawyers through witness interviews and the submission of documents foreshadow the kind of finger-pointing that may emerge from investigative hearings.
Alstom designed the Citadis Spirit train for the Ottawa LRT project, the first time a train manufacturer provided rolling stock for a Canadian rail system. Alstom is also a major subcontractor to RTG-related Rideau Transit Maintenance under a 30-year maintenance agreement with the city.
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In its introductory statement to the committee, Alstom offered an argument as to why some of the problems with the train were happening.
“The results of an early investigation show that inconsistent track design has contributed to excessive stress on vehicles, which has led to this accelerated rate of axle damage,” said Alstom as he examined derailment in August 2021 near Tunney’s Pasture.
According to Alstom, “the track design generates excessively high transverse stress on the vehicles during operation, especially at certain bends, which causes excessive vibration under the axle bearing”.
There are narrow bends in the 12.5-kilometer railway line between the east gate of the center tunnel and Tremblay Station.
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Alstom also revealed how it got involved in the RTG offer.
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Initially, Alstom tried to be part of a different offer that did not pass the qualifying stage. Alstom then applied to be part of two of the qualified consortia, but the consortia refused.
In June 2012, as time was running out in the city’s LRT procurement process, RTG turned to Alstom for being its train supplier after RTG’s original supplier, CAF, was disqualified from the city. according to Alstom.
Alstom says it only had three months to write its offer as part of RTG’s offer to the city, but that the industry norm for this type of work is between nine and 18 months.
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Alstom had to reconfigure its Citadis train, which was used in other parts of the world, in response to the city’s demands. The requirements for designing vehicles in the city were “on the absolute edge of what an LRV (light rail vehicle) can do,” says Alstom.
After RTG won the contract, the city took 12 months to finalize the design choice, delaying train production and validation tests, Alstom said, and all countries, including the city and RTG, decided to produce and test trains simultaneously avoid delays.
“The risk, known and accepted by all parties, was that the engineering problems identified during the validation tests would lead to the modernization of already manufactured vehicles,” Alstom said in an introductory statement.
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“Predictably, that’s exactly what happened with this project.”
On September 19, 2021, an LRT train derailed west of Tremblay Station, shutting down the system for one month, 23 days. Photo by Errol McGuigan / Postmedia
The engineering team hired by RTG’s construction contractor to design most of the rails and stations submitted its own introductory statement to the commission last week.
RTG Engineering Joint Venture, a partnership between SNC-Lavalin and WSP Canada, said that “the provision of engineering services has not caused or contributed to the maintenance problems, accidents or derailments that are the main subjects of this inquiry”.
In its own introductory statement to Monday’s inquiry, the city of Ottawa said it was in no hurry to open the LRT system.
“The city’s focus was and is on public safety, reliability and the customer experience for light rail in Ottawa,” the city said in a statement.
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Around the test cycle, the city agreed to reduce the number of dual-vehicle trains needed for peak periods from 15 to 13, after seeing that passengers did not reach the levels stipulated in the contract. The city thought it would give the RTM little space to breathe with more spare vehicles.
While RTG claims that a smooth start is “best practice”, the city says no “soft start” is required under the contract.
“The city had a right to expect that once the system was handed over, it was ready to go into operation,” the city’s opening statement said.
The city noted that “it remains concerned about the ability and commitment of RTG and its subcontractors to properly maintain the system.”
RTG, meanwhile, is blaming the city for failing to properly manage public expectations for a new transit system.
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“The city exacerbated these challenges by failing to sensitize riders about the possibility and normalcy of service interruptions. Instead, the city promoted the Ottawa-based travel system as a turnkey system when an experienced transit operator knows that any new transit system of this complexity is experiencing “growing pain”, according to an introductory statement from RTG, also filed Monday.
RTG says it was “missed” by Alstom due to delayed train deliveries and the slow creation of a maintenance workforce.
“Given Alstom’s vast resources, market power and the global scale of its operations and experience, RTG countries expected more from Alstom,” RTG said.
The investigation hearings are scheduled to last four weeks. They will be held at the University of Ottawa, where the public can watch it live, which will also appear on the commission’s website. The hearings will also be broadcast on Rogers TV. The witness schedule, which is subject to change, can be found here.
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
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