Officials say that a key risk assessment could be done soon
Transit riders in Ottawa are waiting to hear what the next steps will be to get the light rail line back up and running. At 4 p.m., city officials will hold their latest news conference.
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The Confederation Line has been closed for more than two weeks because another problem with the bearings was found when it was checked. Why does this keep happening? The city hasn’t said.
OC Transpo’s original goal date for resuming light rail service was July 31. On Friday, however, the company scrapped that plan, saying that a new risk assessment must be done before another 10 days of repairs to the tracks and testing after that.
The city’s head of transit, Renée Amilcar, said on Monday that she hopes to finish the risk assessment by Wednesday.
During an interview in French with Radio-Canada,Les matins d’iciTuesday, she said that the line might open again on August 14—10 days from Friday—but that date is still uncertain and depends on a number of other things.
“It takes a long time, and you have to learn the system well and not make any mistakes. She said in French, “I’d like us to figure this out once and for all.”
The city’s director of engineering services, Richard Holder, said that the risk assessment should be done between Wednesday and Friday.
“We’re telling the engineers doing the risk assessment that it’s very important that they put this risk assessment at the top of their list,” Holder said. “We need to get the service back up and running, but we also need to follow the right steps to make sure the risk assessment is done right.”
Reposition of rails neede
Once the risk assessment is done, crews can start to move the rails that keep trains from going off the tracks.
Holder said there shouldn’t be any contact between the wheels and the restraining rail, but there was contact in some places along the curve of the tracks.
Holder said, “It’s not too scary, because we’ve had this problem before.” But the train’s maker sent a new safety note to the city last week saying that the restraining rails must be moved by a few millimeters so that they don’t touch the train wheels.
Those are the repairs that should take 10 days to finish.