OC Transpo says it has found “unexpected” and “additional” damage on LRT cars that is delaying plans to fully restore service.
At transit committee on April 9, OC Transpo said full train service is expected to resume by end of May.
Line 1 has been operating with single-car service since January after damage was found in the cartridge bearing assembly that links the axles to the wheels of the train.
The new damage found is known as “shelling,” a more severe form of what is called “spalling,” which involves metal in the mechanism flaking off inside.
Sabrina Pasian, OC Transpo’s chief safety officer, says two cars are affected by shelling and 11 by spalling.
Because of the spalling, OC Transpo had already been keeping train cars with mileage above 100,000 kilometres out of service.
Trainmaker Alstom and contractor Rideau Transit Group have been collaborating on a solution to re-open regular service.
Their solution involves vibration monitoring of trains using a sensor to identify anomalies “in real time,” Pasian said.
However, Pasian did not provide a timeline for when the condition monitoring process would begin. Instead, she said it’s based on “supply, installation and testing timelines.”
“Service on Line 1 would increase incrementally,” she said. “The root cause investigation is ongoing, but it is expected it will take time.”
East LRT expansion
OC Transpo has also pushed back its estimate for opening the east LRT expansion.
After previously aiming to open the LRT east expansion to Orléans by the end of June, OC Transpo interim general manager Troy Charter said hitting the target is unlikely.
OC Transpo says there is an “impact to trial running” the east expansion, and that “it doesn’t appear Q2 is achievable.”
Charter said there would be a more “substantive update” at the next transit committee meeting.
“I would hate to go too much longer,” said Coun. Tim Tierney.
“Everybody has to plan life,” he said. “And if we don’t have trains running by September in the east end, that has massive impacts on the entire system,”
“I think the public is really anxious.”
Rumoured service shutdown
Charter also downplayed the possibility of an LRT service shutdown, as raised last week by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
“We know we’ve had some challenges with the spalling issues on Line 1, and of course we have to have contingency plans in place,” Sutcliffe told reporters.
“There’s a limit of 100,000 kilometres on every vehicle, so, if we reach a point sometime in the future where it’s no longer possible to have enough vehicles in order to provide the service, we may have to look for a period of time at using R1 [replacement buses], and we have to have those contingency plans in place.”
After OC Transpo did not issue a statement to clarify the future of LRT service, Coun. Jeff Leiper, member of the transit committee, asked today how “real” the possibility of a shutdown was.
“We weren’t necessarily close to a shutdown,” Charter said.
