Partial LRT service set to resume Friday, 54 days after derailment

OTTAWA -

The City of Ottawa says that partial service on the Confederation Line LRT will resume Friday, barring any complications during testing on Wednesday.

A city memo says testing has been progressing well and if testing is completed successfully on Wednesday, service will be back up and running Friday with seven trains. Final confirmation of the resumption of service will be delivered Wednesday.

The LRT has been shut down since a derailment on Sept. 19.

In the memo, city manager Steve Kanellakos said the past two days of testing on the line have been positive.

"Testing continues (Wednesday), and if the results remain consistent, the City will resume revenue service on Line 1. Final confirmation of this date is contingent on the successful completion of testing and pending final validation by TRA," Kanellakos said.

TRA (Transportation Resource Associates) was hired to independently oversee the resumption of service plan. The Rideau Transit Group had initially aimed to have partial service restored by Nov. 1, while Kanellakos had said staff were aiming to have partial service restored within the first two weeks of November.

"Once the system resumes revenue service, the City and TRA will continue to monitor RTG’s activities. As with any Light Rail Transit system, we expect that issues will arise. The City and our transit customers expect these issues will be addressed quickly and efficiently by RTG," Kanellakos wrote.

R1 bus service will continue to run when the trains come back online. OC Transpo will monitor ridership to determine whether R1 bus service can be reduced.

Full service is expected to be in place by the end of the month, Kanellakos said, which would be in line with the target of Nov. 29, set by RTG. Kanellakos had previously said it was the city's opinion that full service was not expected to be restored until mid-December. 

Transit chair confident 'everything's in the right place'

Transit commission chair Coun. Allan Hubley tells CTV News Ottawa he's very relieved that the trains will soon be running again.

"It's been a long time coming but here we are and we're trending upwards," he said. "I think everything's in the right place right now."

Full-line testing has been ongoing since last week. Hubley admitted that some minor issues have surfaced, but they were quickly resolved.

"I think it's fair to acknowledge that there's still a default message here and there, but they're able to address it really quickly and it's not affecting regular service so we feel very confident that we're going to be able to put riders on and they'll be able to get a good experience on the train again," he said. 

"I'm hoping, the rest of this month, we can get all of the trains back in service, as expected, and in better shape than they were before because of the rigorous overhaul that is taking place."