Trillium Line enters final stage before opening, but still has no launch date

OC Transpo says it's in the home stretch of preparations to open the north-south Trillium light rail line, but management won't yet commit to a specific date to begin service.

Michael Morgan, director of the city's rail construction program, said OC Transpo is now in a final eight-to-10 week phase that began on July 8. If everything goes smoothly, that could mean a September opening.

But there's always the chance unexpected problems could crop up and delay that further.

"If we run into an issue on week nine, it will be longer," he said Thursday.

As part of that process, OC Transpo is aiming to meet a 98.5 per cent reliability standard during a trial running period that hasn't yet started. Transit services general manager Renée Amilcar said if the system can't meet that standard, they would have to "start again" and "continue until we get it."

Amilcar said the dates for the trial run are not yet confirmed, and she repeatedly refused to commit to a timeline for when the system will open to the public. 

"We want to be able to say that when the system is opened, it's because we are ready," she said. "We don't want to work under pressure."

She would not directly answer a question on whether there is any chance of the line opening in time for the start of the fall semester at Carleton University.

Amilcar said there is still "critical work to be done" and does not want to rush the trains into service. 

'We're at the end'

OC Transpo is still waiting for building occupancy permits for five of 13 stations. It needs all of them to start trial running.

Morgan said among his top concerns are the switches that move trains between double and single tracks. They have to work "flawlessly." If even one fails, it could interrupt service along a stretch of the line.

He called that "critical" to preventing delays, but said they're still seeing switch issues a couple times per week.

"We're close, but we really want to get that number to between zero and zero," he said. "A couple a week is too many for us."

When it starts, trial running will begin with a 14-day reliability testing period followed by a seven-day phase simulating various "failure scenarios" such as an immobilized train, a failed rail switch or a medical emergency on board.

OC Transpo would then have to go to Transport Canada to get regulatory approval to operate, a step Morgan said should take only a few days.

He said the project started with a checklist of checklists, but OC Transpo is now on the "final list."

"If you look at a schedule, there's tens of thousands, there's maybe 15,000 line items in a schedule for one of these projects," he said. "We're at the end. We're down to 50."

Councillors frustrated by delays

Riverside South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches, chair of the light rail subcommittee, said residents in his suburban south Ottawa community have been eagerly waiting for the train, which has already been delayed by two years.

"I know the residents want us to get this system up and running in such a manner that it's reliable and that it's safe and that we don't go through the same experience that we did in the first phase of the project," he said.

"There's certainly frustration, but we need to get it right by Day 1."

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard called the Trillium Line "a critical piece of infrastructure" for students at Carleton University, which is in his ward. 

"What can I tell Carleton students and staff about the timeline for the fall?" he asked. "It looks like we had initially said we would be ready for early September, I think, was our absolute deadline. It looks like that's being pushed back a bit now."

Amilcar again deferred, saying she hopes to announce good news at the end of that eight-to-10 week period.

Morgan said OC Transpo has already been running trains on the line on a full 18-hour schedule, but the contractually required trial running period differs by adding greater monitoring and reporting. OC Transpo is planning to give councillors daily updates on the results.

"We're practising now. This is the final step. This is the first time we've really pushed the [maintainenance contractor] to turn the vehicles around in that short window," Morgan said.

"We're going to start measuring really seriously starting next week, and then use that to inform when we actually start trial running."