Officials still looking into cause of last week's Ottawa LRT shutdown
More than a week after freezing rain halted service on Ottawa's LRT system, officials still don't know the root cause of the outage.
Five trains were stranded on the Confederation Line during the storm last week, stranding passengers and forcing OC Transpo to deploy replacement buses.
"Rideau Transit Group is still working on their investigation into the cause of this disruption," the city's transit general manager Renee Amilcar told transit commission on Thursday.
"Council will be provided with this information once the investigation is complete."
Partial service on the line resumed the day after the outage, and full service resumed the following evening, more than 30 hours after the initial shutdown.
Some passengers who were on the stranded trains for more than two hours complained of a lack of communication.
Amilcar said OC Transpo has reviewed its response on that front.
"I know that we still have room to improve. Our team has reviewed our response. Additional guidance has been provided to rail operators to ensure that customers on trains are frequently informed and updated," she said.
Amilcar said OC Transpo's social media team is reviewing its response to ensure timely responses are provided.
"We apologize for the inconvenience this incident caused our customers," she said.
Rideau Transit Maintenance's CEO said last week the five vehicles stopped when the onboard systems detected power fluctuations from the overhead catenary system.
"When the overhead wire that supplies the power has ice on it, the pantograph on the vehicle is not making good contact, and we see big fluctuations in voltage. When the vehicle sees that, it shuts down to protect itself," Mario Guerra said.
That was a different situation than the freezing rain that led to a six-day shutdown in January. In that case, ice built up on the overhead catenary system. Two trains stopped east of Lees Station due to the frozen wires, and a section of the overhead power system was damaged.
Officials blamed a "unique combination of factors" in that case. Officials released that information more than a month after the shutdown. In February, Rideau Transit Maintenance crews repaired a broken arm that supports the wire in the overhead catenary system near Lees Station.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
2 died in plane crash near Squamish, B.C., police confirm
Two people died after a plane went down in a remote area near Squamish, B.C. on Friday, authorities have confirmed.
Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide
Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event.
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
After more than 100 years, Newfoundland's unknown soldier returns home
An unknown Newfoundland soldier, who fought and died on the battlefields in northeastern France during the First World War, is back home this weekend for the first time in more than a hundred years.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Indianapolis 500 starts after 4-hour rain delay with Kyle Larson in the field
The Indianapolis 500 started Sunday after a rain delay of four hours with NASCAR star Kyle Larson still at the track and in the race.
Some birds may use 'mental time travel,' study finds
Real quick — what did you have for lunch yesterday? Were you with anyone? Where were you? Can you picture the scene? The ability to remember things that happened to you in the past, especially to go back and recall little incidental details, is a hallmark of what psychologists call episodic memory — and new research indicates that it’s an ability humans may share with birds called Eurasian jays.