'Proof is in the pudding': OC Transpo won’t commit to opening date for Trillium Line

OC Transpo says construction on the Trillium Line is progressing, but still won’t commit to a specific launch date for the north-south rail line until after the trial period.

Councillors at the light-rail transit subcommittee were provided a detailed update on construction for the Stage 2 extension that will run from Bayview Station to Riverside South, with a spur to the Ottawa International Airport.  

Michael Morgan, the city’s director of rail construction, says timelines are moving well at all stations along the rail line and the city hopes to have testing begin in September.

"The proof is in the pudding. We need to see the train on the tracks, working reliably to give us confidence in selecting and deciding on an opening date," Morgan says.

Morgan adds, "We are still waiting to see the performance of the train across the entire network through August and September to give us a good sense of, is it highly reliable? What is our confidence level with the system? Is it ready to go?"

"The timeline is still to aim for third week of September for trial running and first or second week of October for handover. If the reliability of the train in August and September than we will tend to lean to opening the system sooner rather than later. If we start to see challenges in August and September, then we will push the date out."

The LRT subcommittee is a result of the failed launch of the Confederation Line and the public inquiry that found Council was kept in the dark on testing for Stage 1.

The chair of the committee, Coun. Steve Desroches says, "We need to get it right," on Stage 2.

"We have to get the product that taxpayers have paid for, and we have to put in place the lessons that we have learned from the previous project and I think we are doing that day after day."

One of those lessons is running parallel bus services for the full first winter of operation on the Trillium Line; something that wasn’t done in Stage 1.

"There are still scenarios where there could be an issue if we get 24 inches of snow in a night. The maintainer is going to have to respond to that," Morgan said.

"So there still are scenarios where we need more practice, but that is why we are keeping the bus service in place."

Councillors were told how much emphasis will be put on testing the system before passengers can board the trains. Staff will be provided daily updates of the previous day’s performance and a technical briefing once trial running is complete.

One of the recommendations out of the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry was an independent oversight on construction status. Councillors heard the results of a report from SYSTRA Canada and RAPT Dev Canada, who reviewed Stage 2. The report made 47 recommendations ranging from project management, infrastructure, to safety.

"We are on a different track this Council. I think it was one of the smartest decisions to have a third-party oversight group look at the readiness plans to make sure everything is going according to plan," Desroches said.

"That doesn’t mean that the spotlight is off this project, we are going to have to pay considerable attention to testing and turnover once that date comes."