Mayor gives Alstom, RTM officials 'come to Jesus' talk
Mayor Jim Watson has met with officials from Rideau Transit Group, Rideau Transit Maintenance and Alstom, for what he calls a 'come to Jesus' talk to fix Ottawa's two-year-old Confederation Line.
The Mayor's Office tells CTV News Ottawa Watson met Thursday morning zia Zoom with officials from the consortium running Ottawa's Light Rail Transit system and train-maker Alstom, four days after an LRT car derailed near Tremblay Station.
In an interview with Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa at Work with Leslie Roberts before the meeting, Watson said he would have a pointed discussion with officials to fix the LRT system after two derailments in six weeks.
"I'm going to basically give them a blast and tell them they have let down our city, they've let down our passengers, they've let down our council and they've let down their credibility as an organization," said Watson Thursday morning.
"I can't think that they're very proud of what's going on here, they've certainly told me that in the past. They're going to get a come to Jesus talk with me pushing them to get more resources here, higher skill set to go through every single train to make sure that this thing doesn't happen again."
On Sunday, an LRT train travelling westbound with 12 passengers and a rail operator onboard stopped near the Riverside Drive overpass after a set of wheels left the track. The derailment caused "significant damage" to the LRT car, the track and infrastructure.
On Tuesday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the LRT train actually derailed before entering Tremblay Station at approximately 12:15 p.m. on Sept. 19, approximately 500 metres from where the train stopped.
"The train then departed the station in the derailed condition and continued over the rail bridge that traversed Riverside Drive before striking a signal mast and switch heater that were adjacent to and north of track 1," said the TSB.
Transportation Services General Manager John Manconi told reporters on Wednesday OC Transpo and RTG are trying to determine where the train derailed.
"I saw some of the video footage, I can't tell you where it derailed, nor can my rail experts that have been operating trains for a very long time," said Manconi.
The derailed rail car returned to the Belfast maintenance and storage facility on Wednesday afternoon for further inspection.
Rideau Transit Maintenance has said it could be three weeks before rail service resumes.
It was the second derailment involving Ottawa's light rail transit system in six weeks.
On Aug. 8, an axle became dislodged from the track after a fault in the axle bearing assembly. The O-Train was shutdown for five days while RTM conducted inspections on all trains.
"My objective first and foremost is to get the system fixed, stabilize the system and grow the system so that we bring a higher degree of confidence back to the public, and the passengers in particular, who have lost obviously a lot of confidence in the system because of the last two episodes," said Watson.
"At the end of the day our job is to be, number one focus, get the system back up and running safely and to ensure that we've done everything we possibly can to provide reliable service. That's what the public wants."
Watson says OC Transpo will make sure the Confederation Line is "100 per cent safe" when it's relaunched, and signed off by all the safety experts.
"The number one of priority for me in the next few weeks is to get the system back running," said Watson.
"The train has now been removed off the site and is back in the maintenance facility, and as soon as we can get all of the crews to fix everything that was damaged as a result of that derailment on Sunday, we'll have to do that."
The LRT shutdown is frustrating transit users across the city.
Patsy Verdon’s grocery run, from Lebreton Flats to the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, would normally take about 15 minutes each way. However, with the R1 Replacement Bus Service running instead of the O-Train, her trip across the city will double.
"I depend on the LRT because of my wheelchair,” says Verdun, who has to wait at her bus stop in the rain. "It’s better on the LRT because you know it’s coming every three minutes. Here you don’t know when it’s coming, sometimes it’s very late. It is very frustrating it is always breaking down."
The Transportation Safety Board will provide the ultimate sign-off to clear the Confederation Line for a return to service.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.