LRT launch a moving target, report says

The City of Ottawa can't say yet when the $2.1-billion LRT system will be carrying passengers, according to a quarterly report made public by the city Thursday.

Rideau Transit Group, the consortium building the city's LRT has told the city it will deliver the light rail system on May 24, 2018, or what's technically known as the "revenue service availability date."

Should RTG miss the deadline, the consortium would lose money, "most notably the deferred payment … of approximately $202 million," according to the report.

But just because RTG appears on target to hand over the LRT at this time next year, that doesn't mean residents will be riding the rails soon after that.

"The city does not expect to receive the trains one day and fill them with passengers the next," says the report, which goes onto describe the city's "Ready for Rail" campaign to help with both the technical and passenger transition from a bus to a rail system.

"Staff is aware of the importance of establishing the date for passenger revenue service as soon as possible," according to the report. "At the same time, staff want the public to be able to count on the date and to know what to expect in the first few weeks of passenger service."

The memo addresses recent speculation about whether the project was on time. When asked about the specific dates in the contract, officials have refused to confirm whether the project would be completed by those targets. Recently, Mayor Jim Watson said he hoped the trains would be in service by the end of June 2018.

• City officials refusing to say when service might start
• City won't reveal LRT start date until next year

And questions surrounding the project, including reports about concerns over worker safety, led Coun. Diane Deans to put in a formal request for an update on the project.

Update on Canada Day 'readiness'

The report also confirms that the agreement between the city and RTG that all above-ground construction would be complete in time for the 150th celebrations was "re-examined" after the June 2016 sinkhole on Rideau Street. 

Although RTG has put more work crews, shift and equipment on the LRT project to make up some time, "some surface work will continue beyond July 2017," says the report.

The streetscaping work on Queen Street — during which crews ruptured a gas line last week — won't be finished before Canada Day. Parts of the street will be closed to cars and bikes until mid-June.

Construction on Queen and Rideau will stop on Canada Day, and the two streets will be cleaned and spruced up with new hoarding.

Lyon Station multimedia event on schedule

Montreal-based Moment Factory's multimedia installation called KONTINUUM is still on track to open at the new Lyon Station at the end of June.

The Ottawa 2017 office will let people know soon when the free show will open.

A previous plan to give people tours of a completed section of the LRT tunnel was cancelled some time ago, although council only found out recently through media reports.