Memo: Rideau Transit Group proposed full return-to-service, November 29, 2021
The purpose of this memo is to advise the Mayor and Members of Council and the Transit Commission that the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) has informed the City that full-service resumption is anticipated by Monday, November 29, and to provide you with further details on RTG's plan to safely return the O-Train Confederation Line 1 into service following the September 19 derailment.
We can advise that significant progress has been made to prepare for the resumption of partial Line 1 service since the Transit Commission was updated last Wednesday. Additional RTG technicians have been deployed to inspect the trains and conduct necessary work to relaunch the system. The independent rail safety expert, Transportation Research Associates (TRA), is actively monitoring their progress.
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.
As part of the partial return-to-service plan and to validate repairs to the infrastructure, some test trains will operate on portions of the system later this week. These preliminary test trains will be used to verify correct operation of the trains and the infrastructure that was repaired. A further memo will be issued to Council before testing on track commences.
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.
The City has made clear to RTG that the O-Train Confederation Line 1 will only return to service once TRA completes their assessment, and the City accepts their recommendations. Once partial Line 1 service resumes, 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.
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. I will continue to provide you with updates as they become available.
Steve Kanellakos, City Manager
Source : City of Ottawa