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After more damage and derailed trains, transit chair calls recent LRT issues ‘frustrating’
Posted Jan 8, 2023 • 3 min read
43 comments LRT problems continued on Saturday with multiple trains stranded on the tracks between Lees and Tremblay stations. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
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Work to restore full service on Ottawa’s LRT system continued Sunday after the troubled light rail transit system was paralyzed by an ice storm days earlier.
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Maintenance crews in a bucket truck spent Friday afternoon manually breaking ice from overhead power lines as they tried to move two trains stuck near Lees station.
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Attempts to free the trains have since failed, leaving more trains stationary near the station, about midway along the Confederate line, and causing further damage to its overhead power cables.
As of Sunday morning, trains were still running in circles eastbound between Blair and Tremblay stations and westbound between Tunney’s Pasture and the University of Ottawa, with R1 buses connecting passengers between St. Laurent and Rideau.
The situation frustrated Stittsville Coun. Glenn Glover, the new chairman of the city’s transit commission, who said Saturday that it will take time to restore public confidence in the system.
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The situation has also raised concerns about how the disruptions will affect the commute on Monday, when students return to school and many people return to work.
Rene Amilcar, general manager of the city’s Department of Transportation Services, briefed Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and councilors several times a day after the outage in efforts to get the system fully operational again.
Late Saturday, she laid out the work plan for the rest of the weekend.
Rideau Transit Maintenance crews were on schedule to complete an inspection of a 2.8 km section of the overhead power cable system on one of the two tracks Saturday evening, according to an Amilcar update around 8:30pm this evening. So far, inspectors have found no additional damage to the power cables.
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On Sunday morning, crews were scheduled to conduct a follow-up survey of the inspected section of the system before attempting to restore the immobilized trains.
The overhead wires on the second track had to be inspected during the day on Sunday, into the evening, and the part that was damaged in the repair.
Trains on this track will not be removed until inspections and repairs are completed. Amilcar said people would be informed if any step of the plan failed “as it will have a significant impact on Monday’s service”.
“It’s disappointing. After going through what we’ve had the last three years with LRT, it really felt like we’d turned the corner and that the worst was behind us,” Gower said in an interview Saturday.
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Glenn Gower, Stitsville Councilor and Chair of the City of Ottawa Transit Commission. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia
Gower called it a significant disruption.
“It’s a hurdle in terms of everybody’s trust and everybody’s confidence in the system.” We’ll have to work harder to make sure it’s reliable.”
He noted that light rail runs around the world in areas that sometimes experience freezing rain.
“The next rain is not something that should take the system down.”
Delayed LRT trains Saturday morning. Posted with permission. Photo by Paul Drouin /Attached
Amilcar, who took over as head of urban transit services in 2021, said OC Transpo is bringing in an external oversight to “closely monitor” the work of RTM and “provide independent advice to OC Transpo and confirm that we have a solid plan to return the services to this ■ area.”
The LRT’s poor winter performance was one of the issues addressed during the province’s public inquiry into the construction, operation and maintenance of the Confederation Line.
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In his report, released Nov. 30, Justice William Hourigan said the train should have been tested in real winter weather conditions, not just in laboratory simulations, as was done for the Ottawa system.
Trains remain blocked on the tracks between Lees and Tremblay stations on Saturday. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia
The chaos caused by this week’s ice storm caught OC Transpo off guard.
The ice buildup wasn’t as bad on the east and west sides because trains were still running on those parts and regularly knocked ice off the power lines, said Mario Guerra, CEO of Rideau Transit Maintenance Group.
This was not the case on sections of track where trains were stopped.
To prevent a repeat, “We need to improve our ability to extract vehicles,” Guerra said.
With files from Megan Gillis
A sign posted at an LRT station on Saturday notified future riders of the system shutdown in that area. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia OC Transpo buses stand outside the Hurdman Station Saturday morning. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia People lined up at Hurdman Station to take buses instead of the LRT Saturday morning. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia A train winds its way through the snow on Friday. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA A worker continues to repair overhead cables on the LRT line between Hurdman and Lees stations on Friday. Photo by ERROL MCGIHON / Postmedia Three LRT trains stand near Lees Station on Friday. Photo by Tony Caldwell/Postmedia
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