July 20 LRT update

Council has this afternoon received the following update with respect to the LRT shutdown

This memo is to provide an update to Mayor and Members of Council on the current service levels and ongoing investigation.

R1 Service

Currently, OC Transpo is providing the following service levels to our customers:

• R1 bus service continues to run between Tunney’s Pasture and Blair Stations
• During peak periods, 36 buses are in operation. This helps mitigate traffic issues and
  increases reliability for our customers

New R1 Service Adjustments

Starting at 3:00 PM, R1 service will be enhanced with the introduction of a shuttle between Lees and Rideau stations. This will improve reliability and reduce travel times for customers

For customers, this means:

• Westbound R1 service will run from Blair to Tunney’s Pasture stations, stopping at
  each station except for Lees station
• A shuttle will run between Lees, uOttawa and Rideau stations
• Customers travelling to Lees Station from the east can connect with the shuttle and Eastbound R1 service at
• uOttawa Station
• Eastbound R1 service will continue serve Lees Station

Our Transit Operations Control Centre is working on finalizing additional R1 route enhancements to ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers. At the start of service tomorrow, R1 bus service will use Albert and Slater Street downtown, instead of Queen Street. For customers, this means:

• Westbound R1 buses will run on Albert street with stops at Bank and Kent
• Eastbound R1 buses will run on Slater street with stops at Kent and O’Connor
• New signage is being installed to notify customers about the alternate R1 stops

Staff are at stations supporting customers during their trips. We encourage customers to visit OCTranspo.com for the latest information about their trips.

Ongoing investigation
Important progress continues to be made on all key areas of the ongoing investigation:

Inspections

Completed work:

• The axle hub assemblies of 15 light rail vehicles have been checked. No issues have been discovered
• An inspection of the light rail vehicle where the wheel hub assembly was identified uncovered no additional issues

Planned work:

• Continued analysis of the results of the rail geometry assessments to identify non-conformances
• The underbodies of the remaining light rail vehicles will be inspected for excess grease
• Remaining light rail vehicles will be checked for wear and tear to the axle hub assembly. RTG is pursuing additional equipment and resources to expedite this work
• The out of tolerance axle hub assembly will be assessed by the manufacturer

Instrumented Bogie Tests:

Completed work:

• The test train completed several runs in different train and track configurations, including different loads, to simulate real world conditions
• A test train was also coupled with a light rail vehicle fitted with Smart Bugs. It completed several runs and captured additional data

Planned work:

• Additional test train runs will be conducted with various configurations
• Results from previous tests will be analyzed

Return to Service Plan:
RTG is discussing return to service scenarios with the City