Partial LRT service resumes Tuesday

Service resumed on a portion of the Confederation Line between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa stations on Tuesday morning, several days ahead of schedule.

Renée Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, announced Monday that work on adjusting restraining rails has been ongoing since Thursday and is now complete on that portion of the track.

"This is the first step as we gradually restore safe service across the full Line 1," she said during a virtual news conference on Monday afternoon.

"We continue to anticipate that full service from Blair to Tunney's Pasture will begin on Aug. 14. I know our work is not yet done, but I want to thank our customers for their patience."

Service resumed Tuesday morning with five single-car trains running every five minutes. The R1, R1 Express and Para R1 replacement buses will continue to operate alongside the trains for the time being. A sixth train is also available to accommodate higher volumes during peak periods.

Amilcar said single-car service will continue throughout August, and updates about September could come later this week.

"I have my planning team, who's working very, very closely [with] me, and we are very, very confident that with single cars, with the level of ridership we have, we can easily handle everything," she said.

As of last week, Amilcar was still giving a target date of Aug. 14 for when service would resume. Crews were working to make miniscule adjustments to restraining rails to prevent contact with wheels, which is believed to be creating pressure that's wearing out parts. They have so far completed that work at nine of 16 spots.

According to Richard Holder, the city's director of engineering services, the team saw the chance to reopen the track as it worked progressively from west to east and realized that the necessary work would be completed on the Tunney's Pasture to uOttawa segment.

'One step in a long journey'

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the partial reopening "one step in a long journey" as work continues on a redesign of the wheel hub assembly, a project that has been billed as a permanent solution to Ottawa's LRT woes.

"The critically important work to permanently fix the system continues," he said. "There's still many milestones ahead, and it will take a long time before we reach our final goal."

Sutcliffe assured residents that the partial reopening is safe.

"Under no circumstances are we going to rush the trains back into service unless we are sure that every measure has been taken to protect the safety of passengers," he said.

The trains will be subject to a temporary speed restriction of just 15 km/h near Rideau station, though Rideau Transit Group general manager Enrique Martinez Asensio said that will have no impact on operations as trains would already be braking at that location anyway.

Amilcar said Monday OC Transpo was still conducting a final review with the consultant Transportation Resource Associates to confirm that requirements for partial service were met.

She also said OC Transpo had already prepared for the opening through trial runs and efforts to clean stations, prepare staff, place signage and install new orange decals to help riders find where to board the single-car trains. They will not occupy the full platform, but will depart from the front in the direction of travel.

Amilcar said everything is in place to ensure passengers have "great service." She urged residents in the west-end to make use of it.

"If you are living in the west, please take the train," she said. "It's safe."