Rideau Transit Group (RTG) has informed City staff, Council and the Transit Commission that full-service of the O-Train’s Confederation Line 1 is anticipated to resume on Monday, November 29, 2021, following the derailment on Sunday, September 19, 2021.
As additional RTG technicians have been deployed since the incident to inspect the trains and conduct necessary repairs to facilitate the system relaunch, significant progress has been made. This progress is continually being monitored by the independent rail safety experts, Transportation Research Associates. (TRA)
Within the first two weeks of November, there will be partial service resumption as seven trains and one spare will be operating. This is in-line with the anticipated full-service resumption set at the end of November. 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.
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.
Updates will be provided to residents should there be any future announcements or changes to the timeline.
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