OC Transpo floats Aug. 14 LRT return

Ottawa's general manager of transit services said Tuesday she's hopeful the light rail train system can be up and running Aug. 14.

Renée Amilcar said the date is an "estimate and may change," at a Tuesday news conference. "As work progresses, we will provide an updated timeline."

The full news conference is available in the player above.

Amilcar said a risk assessment from the consortium that built the Confederation Line, Rideau Transit Group (RTG), is expected to be complete by Thursday. Once that is done, work on restraining rails located at various curves along the tracks can begin.

Work on restraining rails and testing on sections of the track can be completed at the same time, Amilcar said.

There shouldn't be any contact between wheels and the restraining rail, but in certain locations along the curve of the tracks, the wheels have been making contact, said Richard Holder, the city's director of engineering services, on Ottawa Morning Tuesday.

"It's not particularly concerning, we have had that condition before," Holder said. But as part of a new safety note by the train's maker given to the city last week, the restraining rails must now be adjusted by a matter of millimetres to stop them from touching the train wheels. 

OC Transpo is also in the process of replacing the wheel hub assemblies across its entire fleet. To date, those assemblies have been replaced on 14 vehicles, Amilcar said.

Coun. Glen Gower, chair of the transit commission, said full cost figures are required before a decision can be made on whether compensation should be issued for users. Gower said he has raised the issue with the mayor.

Closed for weeks

The Confederation Line has been closed for more than two weeks after an inspection found another bearing problem. The city has not explained why this keeps happening.

OC Transpo originally set July 31 as its target date for reopening light rail service but scrapped that plan Friday, saying a new risk assessment must be completed before an additional 10 days of repairs are done to the tracks, plus testing after that.