Ottawa's LRT testing has a troubled past. Here's how it'll work with the Trillium Line
City, builders prepare for longer trial running period, which they say will also improve oversight
People who live or work near the Trillium Line have been watching the red-and-white trains regularly travel along the north-south corridor since January, but transit officials still aren't prepared to tell riders when they can expect to step on board.
The expanded O-Train system was originally meant to open nearly two years ago, but has faced delay after delay.
It's a reality that's frustrated riders and councillors, but OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar feels the slow and steady approach is what's needed to lure back disenchanted customers.
"We have been very, very transparent," she told reporters after a technical briefing on Thursday. "I think trust has been re-established."
- Trillium Line enters final stage before opening, but still has no launch date
- Multi-million-dollar settlement talks prove LRT secrecy still a concern
This apparent cognitive dissonance only makes sense in the context of the city's history of willfully accepting an LRT system in 2019 that had not yet proven itself to be reliable — and then reaping the consequences.
Here are a few of the big issues facing the Trillium Line — and how the city plans to make things work this time.
Change #1: Not rushing the process
The City of Ottawa has been working with its contractor to test the Trillium Line and ensure that operators have enough training on both the new Stadler FLIRT trains and the pre-existing Alstom LINT vehicles.
It's a slow process that weeds out issues and builds up capacity, with the city only getting to the point of emulating full service in the last few weeks.
"This is the final step," explained Michael Morgan, Ottawa's rail construction director. "It's about muscle memory. It's about practising. It's about optimizing."
Time and again, staff have emphasized they will not rush the testing phase and risk repeating the mistakes that contributed to multiple lengthy Confederation Line shutdowns and long-lasting issues with wheel bearings that have yet to be resolved.
Among those mistakes was the "continually compressed" testing process that Ontario's public inquiry found was caused by mounting financial and public pressure — and compounded by a lack of transparency.
Change #2: Addressing problems early
As part of efforts to avoid similar transparency concerns, councillors have received a high-level breakdown of the Trillium Line's faults.
They range from software issues that require a reset of control systems to problems with the axle counters that detect if a section of track is clear.
Out of dozens of items on the to-do list, Morgan highlighted three high-priority "challenges":
- Doing a "schedule optimization" to ensure trains arrive every 12 minutes, as promised.
- Solving a problem affecting the accuracy of platform displays that count down to the next train.
- Ensuring separate systems that monitor performance and control trains are properly integrated.
The biggest problem, however, seems to be with rail switches, which allow trains to move between tracks.
Unlike the Confederation Line, sections of the Trillium Line consist of only one shared track, including on the path through the Dows Lake tunnel.
That means that if a switch fails, trains can lose access to stations. And the latest data shows that every week, for months, there has been at least one reported issue — and sometimes as many as ten — with that particular component.
Morgan said that number needs to drop to zero.
"When the switches come out of alignment, they will not open or close fully and the signal system will not allow trains to pass over them. This is a key safety function," he explained to CBC.
- Trillium Line operators nearly trained, but opening remains vague
- Review highlights risks in new Trillium Line
Change #3: Removing external pressure
The city and line builder TransitNext will only move to the next stage of testing once these sorts of defects are resolved.
That trial running stage will involve putting the system to the test at full capacity, as if the trains were carrying passengers. It will test not only the vehicles but also the operators, the control systems and the maintenance regime to ensure the rail line is both safe and reliable.
In the case of the Confederation Line, the terms of trial running were not laid out in the project agreement with its builder, Rideau Transit Group.
That set the stage for an agreement between the city and the builders: they decided to lower the scoring criteria — in the middle of the testing period — by accepting fewer trains and loosening the requirements for consecutive days of high-performance running.
In his final inquiry report, Justice William Hourigan wrote that staff "became willing to compromise to get the system into operation and agreed to defer work, waive requirements, and delay addressing known problems."
That compromise was not based on concerns for the public, he wrote, but rather political pressure.
- How the bar for LRT trial running was lowered — then lowered some more
- It was city officials who suggested making LRT trial run testing easier, inquiry hears
Change #4: Ensuring reliability
Morgan noted in his testimony to the inquiry that the 12-day trial running period for the Confederation Line was arbitrary, and it would have been better to have had a longer period that more accurately reflected normal service.
And the Trillium Line's trial running will be longer. The 21 days will consist of:
- Fourteen days of simulated passenger service, requiring a rolling average of 98.5 per cent on-time performance.
- Seven days of testing "failure scenarios" to see how the system responds to issues like a medical emergency or a stalled vehicle between stations.
One "big change," Morgan said, is that these expectations were written into the project agreement, assuring media on Thursday that there's been no dispute with TransitNext on required service levels for testing or normal running.
"We're in a very good space with them. There's no conflict about what it looks like to open," he said.
Change #5: Respecting the process
Testimony during the inquiry also revealed that the city used its discretion to give contractors a pass on a day when the Confederation Line would likely have failed.
Morgan said that having another person at the table with TransitNext will ensure that contractual obligations are fulfilled.
He did outline two instances where the city's contractor could receive "relief": if the delays or issue is caused by the city (for instance, if the city has staffing issues) or if it's the fault of an outside party (like a long-term power outage).
Some undertakings that don't disrupt safety or service levels, though, can wait until later this year.
Change #6: Being more transparent
After every day of trial running, a report will be shared with both councillors and the public.
It's a final effort to exorcise another ghost of the Confederation Line experience, which saw city leadership actively withhold information.
The inquiry laid out how fulsome information on the decision to lower testing criteria was never shared with council, and was instead discussed in a secret WhatsApp chat group.
Hourigan found councillors were "deliberately misled," and their oversight duties were "irreparably compromised."
- 'Egregious violations of public trust': LRT rushed into service, commission finds
- With LRT builders still at odds, city can't do anything but wait on permanent fix
At the end of the trial running for the Trillium Line, an independent third-party assessment by engineering consultant group Ricardo Rail will also be shared with councillors.
"I think the public inquiry pointed to a lack of an independent oversight of that process or lack of a third party sitting at the table who could objectively provide an opinion on whether the results are achieved or not," said Morgan. "We've asked them to provide that function."
Once the trial running is complete, the city will also request that Transport Canada reactivate its railway operating certificate — an extra step that's required for the diesel-powered Trillium Line, because it remains under federal oversight. That final process should take no longer than a few days.
But when will the line actually open? That's still unclear.
Staff say an eight- to ten-week period that should end with declaring the line has met all contract requirements has already begun, but they refuse to suggest that period is a target.
Whether that's a cop-out or a prudent decision that will set OC Transpo up for an upswing in ridership will be up to the public — and history — to decide.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
