Trillium Line will undergo 21 consecutive days of testing before launch

An east-bound OTrain pulls in to Rideau Station on the Confederation Line of the Light Rail Transit system in Ottawa, ON. (Brenda Woods/CTV Ottawa)

The city of Ottawa will require a longer trial run period for the new north-south Trillium Line before it launches, incorporating lessons learned from the launch of the Confederation Line nearly three years ago.

The city of Ottawa released the unredacted versions of the Stage 2 O-Train Confederation Line and Trillium Line Project Agreement Testing and Commission Schedules on Friday.  The documents outline the testing and commission and trial running before launching Stage 2 of the LRT projects.

In a memo to council, Director of Rail Construction Program Michael Morgan said lessons learned from the commissioning and trial running of Stage 1 of the Confederation Line will be implemented into Stage 2 Trillium Line requirements.

"Staff applied various lessons learned from the testing and commissioning and trial running of the Line 1 Confederation Line into the Stage 2 Trillium Line extension requirements, including longer trial running period, improved performance criteria and inclusion of a systems integration verifier to oversee the works," Morgan said.

The Confederation Line will be required to undergo 12 consecutive days of testing before launch, while the Trillium Line from Bayview Station to Riverside South will undergo 21 consecutive days of testing.

Morgan says there will be a trial running period of 14 days for the Trillium Line, with an additional tests "during the 21 day period" that would include "a variety of failure management scenarios that could reasonably be expected to occur."

OC Transpo and Rideau Transit Group were required to conduct 12 days of testing before the Confederation Line opened from Blair Road to Tunney's Pasture in 2019. The city of Ottawa took possession of the Confederation Line on Aug. 23, 2019, 456 days after the initial deadline.

Here is a look at the Testing and Commission schedules for the Stage 2 LRT.

TRILLIUM LINE

TransitNEXT will be responsible for the testing and commissioning of the complete integrated system (civil infrastructure, systems, vehicles, etc.)

Morgan says TransitNEXT will conduct trial running when the integrated system infrastructure has been tested, when the complete fleet is fully tested and ready for messenger service, there are no outstanding defects affecting rail system functionality and all stations "are substantially complete with only Minor Deficiencies remaining."

The trial run length will be 21 days, with the trial run operating a full regular scheduled service on the full line for a 14-day period.

Additional tests during the 21-day period will include a variety of failure management scenarios that could "reasonably be expected to occur in regular revenue service," Morgan said.

The performance criteria is TransitNEXT achieving the Service Reliability Standard wherein 98.5 per cent on-time performance must be achieved over a 14-day period within the 21-day Trial Running period.

"TransitNEXT will demonstrate that the integrated system (vehicles, stations, and infrastructure) performs reliably through the Trial Running period such that the performance criteria for Trial Running are achieved and that would otherwise lead to zero performance deductions during the maintenance period," said the memo.

CONFEDERATION LINE

The city of Ottawa says Rideau Transit Group is responsible for the testing and commissioning of the complete integrated system (civil infrastructure systems, vehicles, etc.)

"RTG is responsible to conduct trial running when the integrated system has been tested and is essentially ready for revenue service," writes Morgan.

"Trial running will be the final step in confirming readiness for revenue service."

The 12 consecutive days of trial running will operate a full regular scheduled service on the full line using the peak and non-peak schedules for an "extended period," the city says.

"The tests will include a variety of failure management scenarios that could reasonably be expected to occur in regular revenue service," Morgan said.

The Confederation Line extension will run from Blair Road to Tenth Line Road in the east end, and from Tunney's Pasture to Algonquin College and Moodie Drive in the west end.