Ottawa LRT closure to extend into weekend, officials say

Officials say the work to repair Ottawa's LRT line after freezing rain Wednesday night is expected to continue into the weekend after efforts to remove ice caused further damage.

More than 36 hours after freezing rain shut down the city's light rail system, a section of the line remains closed and two trains are still stuck.

On Friday morning, crews sent a third train to the area between Lees and Hurdman stations with a special attachment called a "winter carbon strip" to remove ice from the overhead wires, but the train caused more damage to the wires.

Instead, crews are removing the ice manually, Mario Guerra, Rideau Transit Maintenance CEO and acting general manager, told reporters Friday afternoon.

"We have our staff up in the bucket truck removing the ice manually," he said. "Before we were trying to use the vehicles themselves."

Once the ice is clear, crews will resume work to try to repair the overhead catenary wires that broke when the third train was brought in, Guerra said.

After that, they will work to move the two trains that first became stuck Wednesday night near Lees Station as freezing rain fell and ice built up on the overhead wires.

"Once we have done that, we will test the system to make sure the repairs that we made are safe," Guerra said.

In a memo earlier Friday, transit general manager Renee Amilcar said there is "significant" ice buildup in that area of the tracks because no trains have run there since Wednesday, making it more challenging to remove.

Officials say there's no estimate on when the work will be completed, but they anticipate the work will continue into the weekend.

Here's an update, with the latest information:

⚠️Line 1: Train service is operating between Blair and Tremblay stations in the east and between Tunney’s Pasture and uOttawa stations in the west.

➡️ R1 service is operating between St. Laurent and Rideau stations.

— OC Transpo (@OC_Transpo) January 6, 2023

Trains are running between Blair and Tremblay stations in the east and Tunney's and uOttawa stations in the west. Replacement bus service is still running between St. Laurent and Rideau stations.

Troy Charter, OC Transpo's director of transit operations, said two trains are running between Tunney's and uOttawa, and four are running between St. Laurent and Blair.

Video on Twitter Friday morning showed a broken wire on the closed stretch of the tracks.

Well, the @OC_Transpo LRT line between Hurdman and Lees just broke… pic.twitter.com/85mduT2LiC

— W Thomas Leroux (@WTL) January 6, 2023

A spokesman for Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe declined an interview, saying Sutcliffe was in budget meetings all day. He referred interview requests to Coun. Glen Gower.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA Friday, Gower said trains would not be operating if there was a safety issue with the track, adding that although there isn't a definitive answer on the cause of the outage, but freezing rain is "very likely" a contributing factor.

"Anytime we have an outage of the train lasting 24 hours, that's a major outage and a concern," he said.

Gower is the new chair of Ottawa's Transit Commission and a member of the newly formed LRT subcommittee.  He said OC Transpo needs to look at the practices it has in place to deal with freezing rain.

Amilcar said two trains ran overnight from Blair to Tremblay stations to keep the wires clear of ice.

LISTEN: "We don't have a definitive answer on that yet."

Transit Commission Chair Glen Gower tells @RoseyEdeh that OC Transpo is investigating the root of ongoing issues, but ice is likely a factor and that trains would not be running elsewhere if there were safety concerns. pic.twitter.com/un5Ul4y2P9

— 580 CFRA (@CFRAOttawa) January 6, 2023

Sparks fly

A video posted on Twitter just after 11 p.m. Wednesday showed sparks flying from the overhead catenary system as a train approached Hurdman Station.

Around 11:45 p.m., two trains got stuck in that area. Passengers waited about an hour before they were escorted off the trains to a bus at Hurdman station. Amilcar said Thursday that early analysis showed ice buildup on the catenary system caused the stopped trains.

There was also a power outage on the system shortly after midnight. Replacement bus service ran on the eastern part of the line for all of Thursday.

Rideau Transit Maintenance is now concerned the flashes of light spotted in the trains, known as "arcing", may have damaged the OCS.

"While arcing is a contributing factor to the current situation, the root cause investigation continues to identify the full scope of any issues and required corrective actions," Amilcar said in a Thursday memo.

Guerra said Friday that riders should not expect this kind of outage to become a normal occurrence during freezing rain.

"I would say riders can expect that we will be much better prepared and react better in the future with regards to vehicles getting stranded," he said.