Officials say repair work on Ottawa’s LRT line following Wednesday night’s freezing rain is expected to continue into the weekend after de-icing efforts caused further damage.
More than 36 hours after freezing rain shut down the city’s light rail system, a section of the line remains closed and two trains are still stranded.
On Friday morning, crews sent a third train to the area between Lees and Herdman stations with a special device called “winter carbon tape” to remove ice from the overhead wires, but the train caused more damage to the wires.
Instead, crews are removing the ice manually, Mario Guerra, Rideau Transit Maintenance CEO and acting general manager, told reporters Friday afternoon.
“We have our staff in the bucket truck removing the ice by hand,” he said. “We used to try to use the vehicles themselves.”
Once the ice clears, crews will resume work to try to repair overhead catenary cables that snapped when the third train arrived, Guerra said.
They will then work to move the two trains, which first got stuck on Wednesday night near Lees station as freezing rain fell and ice built up on the overhead wires.
“Once we do that, we’ll test the system to make sure the repairs we’ve made are safe,” Guerra said.
In a memo earlier Friday, transit general manager Rene Amilcar said there was a “significant” build-up of ice in that area of the tracks since no trains had been running there since Wednesday, making it more difficult to remove.
Officials say there is no estimate on when the work will be completed, but they expect work to continue through the weekend.
Here’s an update with the latest information:
⚠️Line 1: The train operates between Blair and Tremblay stations in the east and between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations in the west.
➡️ Service R1 operates between the stations St. Laurent and Rideau.
— OC Transpo (@OC_Transpo) January 6, 2023
Trains run between Blair and Tremblay stations in the east and Tunney’s and uOttawa stations in the west. Between the stations St. Laurent and Rideau bus service is still in operation.
Troy Charter, director of transit operations for OC Transpo, said two trains run between Tunney’s and uOttawa and four run between St. Laurent and Blair.
A video on Twitter Friday morning showed a broken wire on the closed section of the tracks.
A spokesman for Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe declined an interview, saying Sutcliffe was in budget meetings throughout the day. He directed interview requests to the earl. Glen Gower.
Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA on Friday, Gower said trains would not run if there was a safety issue on the track, adding that while there was no definitive answer as to the cause of the disruption, freezing rain was “very likely” a contributing factor.
“Anytime we have a 24-hour train disruption, it’s a big disruption and anxiety,” he said.
Gower is the new chair of the Ottawa Transit Commission and a member of the newly formed LRT subcommittee. He said OC Transpo needs to look at the practices it has in place to deal with the freezing rain.
Amilcar said two trains ran overnight from Blair stations to Tremblay to protect the wires from ice.
LISTEN: ‘We don’t have a definitive answer to this yet.’
Transit Commission Chairman Glenn Gower tells @RoseyEdeh that OC Transpo is investigating the root of the ongoing problems, but ice is likely a factor and that trains will not run elsewhere if there are safety concerns. pic.twitter.com/un5Ul4y2P9
— 580 CFRA (@CFRAOttawa) January 6, 2023
sparks flew
A video posted on Twitter just after 11pm on Wednesday showed sparks flying from the overhead catenary as a train approached Hurdman station.
Around 11:45 p.m., two trains stalled in this area. Passengers waited about an hour before being escorted from the trains to a bus at Herdman Station. Amilcar said on Thursday that early analysis showed that ice build-up on the catenary caused the halted trains.
There was also a power outage to the system shortly after midnight. The replacement bus ran on the east side of the line throughout Thursday.
Rideau Transit Maintenance is now concerned that flashes of light seen on trains, known as “sparkling arcs,” may have damaged the OCS.
“While arcing is a contributing factor to the current situation, the root cause investigation continues to identify the full scope of any issues and the corrective actions required,” Amilcar said in a Thursday note.
Guerra said Friday that motorcyclists shouldn’t expect this kind of disruption to become a regular occurrence during freezing rain.
“I would say that drivers can expect that we will be much better prepared and respond better in the future in terms of stranded vehicles,” he said.
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