Transpo boss 'very confident' LRT service will resume Aug. 14

There will be trial runs of trains in the coming days to ensure the system is ready, Renée Amilcar said Thursday.

Published Aug 03, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 2 minute read

Renée Amilcar is the general manager of transit services for the City of Ottawa. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

Ottawa’s transit services manager, Renée Amilcar, says she’s “very confident” that a gradual return to train service will begin on Aug. 14, four weeks after the LRT Confederation Line was shut down.

“I’m confident, based on the the work done by RTG (the Rideau Transit Group), Alstom and OC Transpo, that we have a solid plan to restore rail service,” Amilcar told reporters Thursday in an update.

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“We’re working very hard, and today we are very confident.”

There will be trial runs of trains in the coming days to ensure the system is ready, she said. Crews are working on making adjustments to repositioning of restraining rails on the curves on the $2.1-billion Confederation Line, which was shut down on July 17 after excess grease was found on the axle of one light rail vehicle during a routine inspection.

The original plan was to return to limited service on Monday, using single cars, but that plan was cancelled on July 28 to allow a risk assessment to be conducted to protect the rails and the vehicles.

Restraining rails are a passive safety device to help keep trains from derailing. The goal in this case was to prevent the vehicle wheels from touching the safety rails at all by increasing the gap between the back wheel of each train vehicle and the restraining rail, preventing stress on the wheel hub assembly.

RTG, which has the contract to maintain the system, hired Atkins, a design, engineering and consultancy firm affiliated with Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin.

Repositioning the restraining rails means moving the rails about one or two millimetres, but it’s an exacting process, Amilcar said. The restraining rails are held in place by brackets that are bolted into the ground. The brackets must be moved and placed in new positions.

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“You have to understand we’re talking about steel rails here,” RTG chief executive officer Nicolas Truchons said. “We need specific equipment, specific machines. And we have to make minute adjustments. We have to make sure we reposition the rail in the right place.”

At this point it’s unclear how many of the 16 curves in the rail line will need to be adjusted.

Meanwhile, OC Transpo is monitoring the possible return of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally on Saturday. The City of Ottawa and Ottawa police have warned there may be brief traffic delays on Highway 417 and in downtown Ottawa as the motorcyclists travel from Arnprior to the National War Memorial around 12 noon.

Right now, there are no planned changes to R1 replacement bus service downtown on Saturday, said Joel Lemeiux, manager of the transit operations control centre.

“We’re working closely with the police and traffic services on the situation,” he said.

“Nothing indicates there will be a lot of disruption causes by the possible demonstration, but we’ve put in place plans just in case, and we’ll be communicating with our passengers if we have to change the stops.”