Crews work on a broken wire on the overhead power system for the Confederation Line in Ottawa, Jan. 6, 2023 (David Bates/Radio-Canada)
Workers trying to repair the overhead power system for Ottawa’s light rail line snapped another wire Friday morning, and now the city expects work to de-ice a closed section of the line to continue into the weekend.
Confederation Line trains run on two circuits: four trains between Blair and Tremblay stations for a train every five or six minutes, and two between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations for 15 minutes between trains.
Bus service R1 remains in place between St-Laurent and Rideau stations.
In a tweet Friday morning, the agency said overhead cables near Lees station had been repaired and work was underway to move the two out-of-service trains near that station.
Then, in a note around midday, the general manager of the city’s transport services said there had been an obstruction while workers tried to remove the ice build-up.
“[Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM)] sent a train to this area with a special device called winter carbon tape to remove ice from [overhead] wire … This solution failed to remove the accumulated ice and caused further damage to a short section of [the wire] which will require repairs,” Rene Amilcar wrote.
Amilcar did not know when the section could be reopened to trains, but wrote that “we expect this to continue into the weekend.” RTM CEO Mario Guerra said Friday that they will have an idea of how de-icing is going and what the timeline might be around 4 p.m.
Two affected trains have not moved.
A broken wire on the overhead power system for Ottawa’s Confederation Line, January 6, 2023. (David Bates/Radio-Canada)
The trouble started on Wednesday night
In a statement Thursday morning, Amilcar said the two trains stopped around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday between Lees and Hurdman stations.
Ice build-up on the power system is believed to have stopped the trains, she said. The region was under a freezing rain warning at the time.
On Thursday afternoon, Amilcar provided additional information: While one of the trains near Lees was being returned to the OC Transpo maintenance facility, part of the overhead wire powering the train was damaged.
This needs to be fixed, she writes. Trains will need to be moved and the entire system inspected before full service can resume.
Two Ottawa light rail trains stop near Lees Station on the morning of Jan. 6, 2023. Problems with the overhead power system stopped them there nearly 36 hours earlier. (David Bates/Radio-Canada)
There was also a power outage that lasted less than half an hour between Blair and Tremblay stations just after midnight Thursday, causing ice to form on the east side of the track, she said. A third train is stopped at Tremblay.
The ice was successfully cleared from that part of the line overnight Thursday into Friday, Amilcar said.
Stitsville County. Glenn Gower, chairman of the city’s transit commission, said Thursday that once the problem is resolved, the next steps will be to find out why it happened and stop it from happening again.
“How can you do better in the next circumstance? Whether it’s mitigation or proactive support, or whether it’s around communication,” he said.
“What are other cities doing? We’re certainly not the only city that gets freezing rain or has rails that run on wires. This is a very common system. Do we maintain it and do we have processes and procedures that are similar to what other cities do? And if we don’t, what needs to change?”
Guerra said at a news conference Friday that without trains running in that area, more ice is building up to the point where trains can’t get through. He said transit passengers can expect the system to be better prepared in the future to move trains in icy conditions.
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