OC Transpo says full service on the LRT may not resume until late May or early June, after additional damage was discovered in the cartridge bearing assemblies of cars.
Line 1 has been limited to single-car service instead two since Jan. 21, when evidence of spalling — where bits of metals break apart into smaller fragments — was found by the Rideau Transit Group (RTG).
During examination, evidence of shelling — a more severe form of spalling — was also discovered.
OC Transpo’s chief safety officer Sabrina Pasian says 11 cars have been found to have cartridge bearing assemblies with spalling, and two with shelling.
“As of right now … it is too early to provide a detailed timeline for the implementation of the pilot program in full, as it’s dependent on supply, installation and successful testing,” she said during a Transit Committee meeting April 9.
“But based on the information RTG (Rideau Transit Group) has provided, it is anticipated this may be about six to eight weeks.”
In the meantime, Pasian said the transit agency continues extensive safety checks.
“There will be trained technicians who are checking the trains … as they leave for service,” she said.
“In addition to this work, RTG is also providing an updated risk assessment to us.”
“We have engaged independent experts and they have provided assurance that with these containment and mitigations that we have in place, we can continue to safely run Line 1 train service,” she said.
OC Transpo has also imposed a 100,000-kilometre limit for any train cars.
And the city’s transit agency has pushed back the opening of the extension of Line 1 to Trim Station.
Originally expected to open early this year, there is no firm timeline now for opening.
There will not be a technical briefing on the condition monitoring system until May, which pushes the date back even more.
“It doesn’t appear that (opening the East extension during) Q2 (April-June) is achievable at this time,” said OC Transpo Director of Operations Troy Charter.
Pasian made it clear that “the fleet is safe today and it will continue to be safe going forward.”
The extension setback is not because of safety issues, but “the vehicle count,” she said.
Since most train cars are out of service because of the 100,000-kilometre limit, there are not enough for trial running of the East extension.
“Right now, we have 23 single car trains available for service,” Charter said. “You need 46 trains … plus spares (to start trial running).”
“At this point, I do not have a timeline associated with the East extension, but that’s something that’s very much on our mind,” he said. “Our first priority is to have Line 1 service operating at its normal capacity, back to full service.”
Line 1 is running 15 single-car trains, an increase in frequency in an attempt to mitigate capacity issues. Full service is 13 double-car trains Monday to Friday and seven single-car trains on the weekend.
