Face of Nation : Having all of Ottawa’s LRT vehicles in working order by Sunday is “entirely achievable,” according to the city’s rail director — even though the system hasn’t yet been tested at full capacity.
Last month, Mayor Jim Watson hauled executives from Rideau Transit Group (RTG), the consortium building the 12.5-kilometre Confederation Line, and train maker Alstom into his boardroom to express his frustration that the major infrastructure project is more than a year late.
At the time, Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, who flew in from France for the meeting, promised that the trains would be completed and working by July 7 — this Sunday.
Meeting that deadline is supposed to set the stage for RTG handing over the LRT system to the city by mid-August.
The city’s next official update on the project will be presented at Wednesday’s finance and economic and development committee, but Morgan said last week he’s optimistic — even though RTG hasn’t yet operated 15 coupled trains at once.
That number is significant because during rush hour, 15 coupled trains, each consisting of two light rail vehicles, will be in service. An extra two coupled trains will be on hand as backups.
“There’s still some time left before July 7,” said Morgan late last week. “It’s been going quite well. I think that at this point it appears that it’s entirely achievable.”
One month ago, city council heard the trains were “not ready for prime time.” The trains continued to experience problems with their doors and brake valves, which are time-consuming to retrofit and modify.
The city requires an updated report that shows all modifications have been completed, and “we also want to see the 15 double trains on the line,” Morgan said. “Those are they two high-level things that we want to see for them to demonstrate that they have met that July 7 deadline.”
RTG was able to run nine coupled trains and five singles on the track on Thursday, according to Morgan — the largest number thus far to run at once.
However, it’s not clear how long those trains were able to operate, or whether they are able to run along the entire length of track.
Of course, train movement is affected by issues other than the trains themselves. For example, last week, parts of the track were affected by “sun kinks,” when the rail bends due to prolonged exposure to high heat, Morgan confirmed.
Trains were stopped in one area of the track on Friday, and repairs to the kinked rail were planned for this weekend.
In the meantime, Alstom recently told RTG it’s moving its train production from the Belfast Yard in Ottawa to Brampton, Ont., northwest of Toronto. Alstom has a contract with the provincial transit agency Metrolinx to provide light rail trains for Toronto-area LRT systems.
The France-based company is building not only the 34 LRT vehicles for the first stage of the Confederation Line, but an additional 38 for the future expansion of the east-west transit route.
So far, Alstom has assembled nine of the Stage 2 trains at Belfast Yard. The company said in a statement to CBC that it plans to build a total of 13 trains in Ottawa, which should be accomplished by November. The remaining trains will be built at the Brampton plant and transported back to Ottawa.
A company spokesperson told CBC that Alstom’s “permanent workforce” in Ottawa will continue to have jobs in the city or be transferred to Brampton. Other “hired staff” who are not permanent will likely lose their jobs by November.
Morgan said he wasn’t concerned about Alstom talent leaving town because the company is part of the 30-year LRT maintenance deal the city has with RTG.
