Mayor Watson says city did consult with RTG ahead of O-Train launch

As construction on Stage 2 of Ottawa's light rail transit system continues there are new allegations the first stage was launched prematurely.

In an affidavit filed with the court this week and obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, the CEO Of Rideau Transit Group, which designed, built and maintains the city's LRT system writes the city "decided unilaterally" to launch full service on Sept. 14, 2019, and that "the city did not consult either RTG or the construction contractor before taking this decision."

"For a long time there have been concerns about was this done too early, was this done in haste, were the proper checks in place and then the real challenge is what that does is it starts to erode rider confidence," said Laura Shantz, a board member with Ottawa Transit Riders.

In the two and a half years since the system launched, it has been plagued with issues including derailments—one that shut down the system for weeks last year.

"I always felt the city launched LRT prematurely," Coun. Catherine McKenney said, "We knew, we could see it for ourselves that the 12-day error-free running just didn't happen."

The allegations are laid out in a motion by RTG to try and stop the city's efforts to declare the consortium is in default.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said Wednesday he disagreed with the allegations.

"I fundamentally disagree with their interpretation because they actually presented me a giant key to say here's the start of the LRT," Watson said. "So they actually gave that to me launching the LRT, it was their call and obviously we consulted with them."

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

"We know RTG was under a lot of pressure to deliver the train after having missed deadline after deadline and the goal really is to make sure corners aren't cut along the way and we don't know if that happened," Shantz said.

"Between these filings that we're seeing now from the court process and from the judicial inquiry that's getting started with the province, we're hoping to finally have some of those answers."