Full LRT service to be offline for remainder of workweek

Officials with Rideau Transit Maintenance are aiming to have full service on the LRT restored by Friday, after storm damage knocked out service for a majority of the line late Sunday night and through the day Monday.

A section of the LRT line's overhead catenary system was damaged between uOttawa and Lees station during Sunday's storm when it was hit by lightning at around 11:15 p.m.

Transit general manager Renee Amilcar said in a memo Tuesday afernoon that Rideau Transit Group has cleared the area of debris. Special equipment to re-string the overhead wires was delivered on Monday. About 900 metres of wire will need to be replaced.

Tracks were also damaged. Amilcar said repairing them will take several days.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Mario Guerra, CEO of Rideau Transit Maintenance, said the best case scenario is to have full service restored by Friday.

"At this point, our best estimate is Friday to get service back up and running," Guerra said. "As we get into the repairs, as things come up, that could be compromised. If things go well, it could be ahead of that, but our best estimate at this point is Friday."

Trains were not running between Tunney’s Pasture and St. Laurent stations again Tuesday morning, with some service between St. Laurent and Blair in the east end of the line.

Service at the west end of the line, between Tunney's and Rideau, resumed Tuesday afternoon with four vehicles in operation and a fifth for a spare. Replacement bus service is running between Rideau and St. Laurent stations. OC Transpo says service will run every five minutes.

OC Transpo delivered an apology to riders on social media Tuesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after service on the system was severely reduced.

"This is not the level of service that you deserve from OC Transpo. We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration you may have experienced," OC Transpo said, before offering an explanation of the current situation involving both the repairs to the overhead power system and the issue with the wheel hubs.

"We want to close by again thanking our customers for their patience. This is not the situation we want to be in today. We will continue to share the latest updates about service through all our regular channels. Our shared goal is to restore full service as soon as it is safe."

WHEEL HUB FAILURE MAY BE LINKED TO 'FATIGUE'

Officials also spoke to the wheel hub failure that caused 20 light rail cars to be pulled for inspections. Guerra said that while root cause analysis must still be performed, the current theory for the issue is equipment fatigue.

"Why is that? Is it a bad batch? We don't know yet," he said. "I think once we start doing non-destructive testing on the hub that failed, as well as all of the hubs we're taking off, then we'll be able to tell whether this was one event or if it's something that's permated throughout."

Guerra said that the axle hubs on all 20 vehicles with more than 175,000 kilometres of service are being replaced with brand new ones. He expects that two vehicles per day can be returned to service. The initial vehicle that was pulled had more than 300,000 kilometres on it, with that particular axle having had 211,000, Guerra said.

Amilcar said Tuesday that two of the 20 pulled vehicles have been cleared for returning to service and Guerra expects two more will be ready Wednesday morning.

@ctvnewsottawa Much of Ottawa’s LRT system is down because of lightning damage. Here’s a look at what’s wrong. #ottnews #ottlrt #ottawa #fyp ♬ original sound - ctvnewsottawa