No date for Trillium Line launch as OC Transpo address bugs in new system

The head of OC Transpo is not committing to an opening date for the Trillium Line, as testing continues to identify "some gaps and some issues" on the new north-south light-rail transit line.

However, a timeline shared at the light-rail subcommittee meeting suggests the earliest the line could open is October.

"I see things now that I want to see now; I don't want to see them in three months. For this reason, I would like to ask you to be patient with us," Renee Amilcar, transit services general manager, said, noting bugs have been identified during the testing this summer. "I will not commit to any day today to make sure that we capture everything."

"Fail is not an option for us."

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Staff say two of the nine prerequisites to begin trial running have been completed, and work is progressing to complete the remaining seven.

On July 18, staff said OC Transpo and TransitNEXT were in week two of the eight to 10 week testing and trial running period ahead of the launch of the Trillium Line. Now, Amilcar says the transit service is not ready to say when the 21-day testing period will begin, or when the new line from Bayview Station to Riverside South will open to the public.

"We've reached several significant milestones and made substantial progress, but there is still critical work underway before we are confident the system is ready to proceed to trial running," Amilcar told the light-rail transit subcommittee on Thursday, adding bugs are being identified and addressed during the daily testing.

The new line between Bayview Station and Limebank Station, with a spur to the Ottawa International Airport, was originally scheduled to open in August 2022, but construction delays have pushed back the opening date. Staff say once trial running begins, it will be at least four to six weeks before the Trillium Line will open to the public.

"A lot of work has been completed and we are much closer to the start of trial running; however, we still need to finish the pre-trial running prerequisites and grow the system reliability. These two work activities are occurring in parallel," Richard Holder, acting director of the rail construction program, told councillors.

"We can see the steady improvement of system performance but more work is required. Once trial running is underway, we expect a minimum of four to six weeks to get to substantial competition and to obtain the needed regulatory approvals."

The new Trillium Line station at Carleton University. (OC Transpo presentation)

OC Transpo and its partner, TransitNEXT, have a list of nine prerequisites before launching the trial running, including testing the integrated System Infrastructure, fully testing the complete fleet, signalling and train control system testing, there are no outstanding defects affecting rail systems -- track, signals and communications -- and there are no major defects, safety defects, or incomplete vehicle modifications programs. Two of the nine conditions have been met so far, with work progressing to address the remaining seven.

"We are almost at 100 per cent. We are doing the final tidy up," Holder said about work to complete the prerequisites, adding one of the issues is data coming from the trains. "We are close, but there is more work to be done."

OC Transpo says there is a shortage of trained diesel rail operators, with 54 required to operate the system. 

All 13 stations have obtained occupancy permits, and elevator inspections have been completed and final certificates issued.

OC Transpo and TransitNEXT are required to do a 21-day testing period before the system is cleared for launch. The testing period includes a 14-day service reliability test with the Trillium Line running a full regular service schedule to simulate passenger service and a seven-day "failure scenario management period."

Staff have said councillors will receive a memo confirming when the 21-day testing period will begin, and daily updates outlining the scoring and any deficiencies.

"We are seeing good vehicle reliability," Holder said. "The more that we do exercise trains on the line, we do see issues but they get resolved. A key message here is that we are not seeing a systematic problem across the two fleets that we do have, but we have bugs that need to be fixed."

The Dow's Lake station along the Trillium Line. (OC Transpo presentation)

A presentation for the LRT subcommittee said for three weeks following trial running, OC Transpo and TransitNEXT maintenance personnel will continue "final preparations and readiness activities for the launch of the system."

The activities during the three week period will include "exercising all aspects of daily service including launch and reduction of trains, maintenance of vehicles and related infrastructure," conducting drills and reviewing standard operating procedures.

OC Transpo shared a timeline for the trial running of the Trillium Line, saying the LRT line will open a "minimum of four to six weeks" after testing begins. (OC Transpo presentation)

The 16-kilometre Trillium Line will run between Bayview Station and Limebank Station, with a 4-km link from South Keys Station to the Ottawa International Airport.

Responding to a question from Coun. Riley Brockington, Amilcar said OC Transpo needs a minimum of eight to 10 weeks to run the system to "make sure we capture everything."

"After five weeks only, we have captured a lot of things. We are more than happy because we wanted to capture them before we go into revenue service," Amilcar said.

"We need to continue to run the system to make sure that we will address the issues that we know now, and maybe finding others. Then we will be able to send a memo to say that we are going to the trial running. After the trial running, there will be a few weeks that we will need.

"For now, it's very, very difficult for me to commit to the date because those preliminary stages are so important, so I don't want to get stress because we want success."