The Rideau Transit Group (RTG) has informed the City that full-service resumption is anticipated by Monday, November 29. The November 29 date provided by RTG is a target and is subject to validation of the vehicle inspection program by TRA and the City. Accordingly, staff anticipates a return to full service is achievable by mid-December.
Partial service resumption (seven trains plus one spare) remains on-target to resume within the first two weeks of November, consistent with what was anticipated and presented in the last updates to the Commission and City Council. RTG will continue to inspect the remainder of the fleet. LRT service will incrementally increase as more vehicles are cleared for service, ultimately growing the service to full deployment (16 trains/32 vehicles) for Line 1 by November 29.
Memo received October 27th 2021
Progress continues to be made towards restoring partial Line 1 service. Under the oversight and ongoing monitoring of the independent rail safety expert, Transportation Research Associates (TRA), RTG technicians have been deployed to the site to perform critical activities including train inspections and tasks related to relaunching service on the system.
Prior to service resumption, the entire system will undergo a robust testing regime with three main areas of focus:
- track and infrastructure
- train testing
- full system-wide tests
This testing period will commence October 27th and continue throughout the following weeks leading up to the resumption of partial service, anticipated to launch in the first two weeks of November.
Throughout this testing period, customers will see trains running at different speeds, on different sections of the track, and stopped for long periods of time. Trains will sometimes run the entire track from end-to-end and at other times may only run for short distances on the line. Trains will also often cross over between the two tracks on the line. At times, many technicians will also be on the line as they perform inspections of all components of the track and rail infrastructure.
This testing will be critical to allow TRA, RTG and the City to confirm that all the repairs on the trains, track and the infrastructure meet the quality standards required for a safe return to service and continued operations of Line 1. As previously communicated, TRA has performed their preliminary assessment of the situation and they are now in the process of developing their own detailed workplan following the receipt of RTG’s proposed return-to-service date and associated workplan.
As a reminder, the base service plan for Line 1 requires 15 trains for the morning peak period, 13 trains for afternoon peak period, and a range of vehicles at other times of the day. RTG’s proposed timeline for the availability of 32 vehicles (15 trains plus one spare) is conditional on the acceptance of their workplan by TRA, timely execution of the inspection program, validation of the work completed on the vehicle fleet and acceptance by the City.
