Unreliable LRT keeps undermining public confidence in system, observers say

Experts watching the Ottawa light rail line's bearing boondoggle say OC Transpo made the right decision this week when it shut down service after yet again finding technical problems with a train, though many see an uphill battle to restore public confidence in an unreliable system.

"They're not mucking around on safety anymore," said Patrick Dumond, an engineering professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the monitoring and diagnosis of bearing faults.

"They saw a problem, they shut it down and they said, 'Look, we know it sucks, we know it's going to cost money, we know it's going to ruin a lot of people's daily commutes, but safety is more important than anything else.'"

As Dumond followed OC Transpo's communications on the issue, he could only conclude the people in charge still have no idea what's wrong with the train bearings.

"They still don't know what the root causes of the problem are," he said.

On Tuesday, the city's general manager of transit services Renée Amilcar expressed confidence that the city is "very close" to finding that root cause.

History repeating itself

OC Transpo said it shut down the LRT after a routine inspection revealed more grease than expected.

A subsequent investigation revealed issues with "bearing play," which essentially means the bearing was loose, according to Dumond.

He said the looseness may be due to maintenance issues or problems on the tracks.

Ottawa's extreme temperatures (ranging from -33 C to 35 C this year alone) could also play a role by causing seals to degrade and allowing contaminants into the wheel assembly.

Ultimately, he said he would need more information to diagnose the issue.

"There are so many different reasons for why this could be failing," he said.

Bearing issues were also identified as the cause of a 2021 derailment investigated by the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada.

Former city councillor Diane Deans, who previously chaired the transit commission, said it's concerning and frustrating that history seems to be repeating itself.

"We know that there's some fundamental issues with the train," she said.

"And until they are properly understood and addressed, we're going to continue to reinvent the wheel. We're going to continue to see the same problems pop up over and over again."

'Reliability of the system is everything'

Deans said many current councillors ran last year on a promise to fix the LRT and now they need a clearer plan about how to do so.

"Safety of the system and reliability of the system is everything," she said. "Repeating the same issues over and over again does not lead to public confidence."

Stephen Blais, another former transit commission chair who's now MPP for Orléans, said the public is frustrated not only over delays and shutdowns but also over a lack of transparency about the problems facing the system.

"I would certainly encourage them to put all the cards on the table as soon as possible so that people can have confidence that the powers that be have a handle on identifying what the problem is and a path forward to fixing it," he said.

The city's independent light rail regulatory monitor and compliance officer Sam Berrada watches how well OC Transpo and contractors follow safety regulations. He said the level of compliance has been high.

He called the current challenge "a very complex and technical issue," and agreed that OC Transpo was right to show caution in shutting down the trains.

"Doing this out of an abundance of caution is better than to take risks and to bear the potential consequences of that," he said.

"There's no doubt that everybody wants this issue to be remedied as expediently as possible," he added. "I think that the city, from everything I see, has been working very actively with the contractor and their subcontractor in this case."

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe noted that efforts to follow recommendations and beef up inspections were what led to finding the bearing issue before a catastrophe.

He said he's disappointed, and that the problem won't be fixed overnight. But in his view, the city is on the right track.

"We have to keep identifying all the problems with the service," Sutcliffe said.

"We have to keep doing that over and over and over again until all the problems have been identified and fixed, and only then will we have the safe reliable service that the people of Ottawa deserve and paid for."

Union calls LRT 'a complete disaster'

Deans said it's again clear that the city cut corners during the LRT process.

The president of the union representing OC Transpo workers is inclined to agree.

"The train so far has been a complete disaster," said Clint Crabtree, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279. "It's just incident after incident."

He said the LRT has been "continuously underperforming," which he blamed on what he believes is understaffing at Alstom, which developed and maintains the trains as part of the Rideau Transit Group.

Like Deans, he worries ridership will continue to suffer as the public wonders how it can have confidence in a system that repeatedly breaks down.

He said the abrupt shutdown and pivot to R1 bus service puts a lot of pressure on the system and those who work on it.

"My members are picking up where the LRT can't, and they're still giving the service back to the public through the buses," he said.

With inspections of each axle on every train ongoing, Crabtree estimated it could take weeks until the system is ready to run again. Dumond said a long-term solution that ensures reliability could take much longer.

"I think it depends … if we decide on a Band-Aid solution or if we decide on a proper engineered solution that actually solves the problem," he said. "The latter will take much longer but will provide a much longer-term fix."