LRT service reduced to seven trains as cracks found on three steel wheels
Staff Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jul 04, 2020 • Last Updated 7 hours ago • 1 minute read
The city will allow the Rideau Transit Group and trainmaker Alstom to reduce its LRT service to seven trains as they try to identify the cause and repair cracks discovered in three steel train wheels.
Service was reduced on the troubled Confederation Line Friday morning after a crack was found on a steel wheel of one of the trains during Thursday night maintenance.
The agency ordered a fleet-wide inspection, which began Thursday night and continued through Friday.
In a memo Saturday, John Manconi, general manager of transportation services, said the inspections were complete and three wheels “have been found to have the defect affecting three single vehicles (1.5 double car train).”
“These will be replaced by Alstom,” the memo reads.
While work continues to determine the root causes of the cracks, all LRT vehicles will now be inspected after each run.
To accommodate that process, “we are permitting RTG/RTM and Alstom to move to a daily fleet count of 7 Vehicles with a hot spare.” The new configurations will provide eight-minute service between trains.
The seven-train service will not change through the day or on weekends, Manconi said.
“With reduced ridership this can be accommodated at this time,” he wrote.
The full LRT fleet consists of 17 trains and 13 are normally needed in rush-hour service.
The GM said work is underway to determine the cause of the cracks and “the city has secured resources in this specialized field to review any findings, next steps, etc.”
There was no estimate on how long it would take to identify the causes and make the fixes.
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