NEW THIS MORNING
OC Transpo expected to provide start date for Trillium Line trial running at technical briefing
A train departs a station along the Trillium Line on Thursday, May 16. There is still no opening date for the new north-south rail line. (Leah Larocque/CTV News Ottawa)
OC Transpo will be providing an update today on the Trillium Line LRT, including an anticipated start date for trial running.
Lines 2 and 4 are more than two years behind schedule and have yet to begin the crucial trial running process that is required before the system can open to the public.
The City of Ottawa says Transit Services staff will provide information on the status of trial running of O-Train Lines 2 and 4, including the anticipated start date, at a technical briefing this afternoon.
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OC Transpo and TransitNEXT, the group building the extended Trillium Line, 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 would receive a memo confirming when the 21-day testing period will begin, and daily updates outlining the scoring and any deficiencies.
At a presentation in August, staff said there would be an additional three-week window after trial running is completed before the line opens to the public, to give time for substantial completion and regulatory approvals. This suggests the earliest possible opening date could be mid-November.
In August, two of the nine prerequisites required to start trial running were completed and work was ongoing to finish the other seven.
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.
The technical briefing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
This story will be updated.
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