Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service

[Badyouken]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ium%3Dsharebar

LRT handover to happen 'sometime this month,' mayor now says

Jim Watson refusing to confirm whether Aug. 16 deadline will be met.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson refused to say definitively Wednesday afternoon whether the $2.1-billion Confederation Line will be delivered to the city on Aug. 16, the fourth official deadline for the massive transit project that's already more than a year late.

The 12.5-kilometre east-west light rail line is currently undergoing a trial run during which it's supposed to operate almost flawlessly for 12 consecutive days. City officials including the mayor have refused to say how the crucial testing phase, which officially began on July 29, is going.

But judging from Watson's comments to CBC Wednesday afternoon, it doesn't sound as if the handover is on track to happen this week.

"When the testing is complete and we're satisfied that we're prepared to accept the keys, then we'll make that announcement to the public, to the media and to members of council," Watson said just before launching a charity golf tournament at Stonebridge Golf Club.

"So I look forward to that date sometime this month, and I'm still very confident that we're going to have train service for passengers in the month of September of this year."

Sigh.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

So first they decided to go against uncoupling on weekday evenings and nights, and now they're doing the same for weekends? Is this a City of Ottawa, OC Transpo or RTG decision? Will this impact frequency? Will it increase maintenance costs (that's a whole lot more kilometers!!)?

If we're keeping them coupled, I hope that the next time we put a tender out for new trains (around 2025 as part of Stage 3?), we challenge the bidders to come up with one continuous 100 meters train. That would increase the capacity significantly by eliminating two cabs and the space between two cars. If they were able to figure out how to build heavy rail with full-length gang-ways, I'm sure they can do the same with LRT technology.

Really it's uncommon to couple/uncouple a lot. The wear and tear there is far worse then the extra mileage. Lots of metros in Europe like Oslo and Stockholm run semi-permanent coupled pairs or triplets, making them only partial open gangway since they end up as two or three vehicles like ours. A full length train without any break is definitely better though.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The City probably requested funds specifically for Trim and the Airport. They could just as easily asked for Eagleson and the Airport. Of course, this was before the City decided to extend to Moodie, so the timing doesn't quire work out. Of course, if we're re-inventing history anyway, maybe they could have figured out Moodie beforehand.

I doubt this was the city asking for specific funding, beyond presenting a few funding opportunities. Also, it happened in the run up to the election with the Liberals hoping to protect/reward ridings in the East. They weren't going to spend money running extensions to support safe Conservative ridings.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Guess who had more political pull at the time?

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I doubt this was the city asking for specific funding, beyond presenting a few funding opportunities. Also, it happened in the run up to the election with the Liberals hoping to protect/reward ridings in the East. They weren't going to spend money running extensions to support safe Conservative ridings.

I hate politics.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Badyouken

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ium%3Dsharebar



Sigh.

Sweet Buddha... put your panties back in the drawer. We're talking about a few weeks for a massive project.

[Gat-Train]

At this point, I don't see any reason to believe a word coming out of Jim's mouth regarding LRT handover. And I don't buy Manconi's bullcrap either about "oh those trains not running during simulated revenue service? Yeah uh we totally meant for that to happen haha"

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

Sweet Buddha... put your panties back in the drawer. We're talking about a few weeks for a massive project.

We're talking about an indeterminate amount of time, not necessarily a few weeks. We've been through this before.

Another few months... oh a few more weeks... not this time, but Q1 no problem... we're confident this is it... maybe not... nope, definitely not... new date is coming, but we won't need the two months... Q2 for sure.. oh wait, we need a few more weeks to determine a new date... guaranteed this one is it... I know we've said this before, but NOW, we're very confident... not so much... couple more weeks.

Delays on project as big as the Confederation Line is normal, but when we're promised 4 new dates in 15 months when most of them were clearly not achievable, we lose confidence. It's getting very frustrating.

If in January 2018 (or earlier honestly) they had said "May 2018 is not achievable, we'll try for Q1 2019" and then missed the deadline, pushed it back to mid-August and missed again by only a few weeks, then I'd be fine. They would have provided the best possible guesstimates, couldn't make it, whatever. But November 1st, which was apparently more time than RTG had proposed, was clearly not achievable based on the station progress, in particular Rideau Station. Q1 2019 was also not realistic because of the progress on the rolling stock. June (the one unofficial deadline), possibly. I think it was pretty clear for a lot of people that August 16 was way to tight of a timeline to be plausible and it seems we'll be proven right.

So no, a few more weeks is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but considering the history, it's discouraging that once again we're missing yet another deadline. It does not inspire confidence. The City and RTG are crying wolf again.

[Badyouken]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Another few months... oh a few more weeks... not this time, but Q1 no problem... we're confident this is it... maybe not... nope, definitely not... new date is coming, but we won't need the two months... Q2 for sure.. oh wait, we need a few more weeks to determine a new date... guaranteed this one is it... I know we've said this before, but NOW, we're very confident... not so much... couple more weeks.

This is what I'm sighing about. I don't mind the delays, it's a huge project. I get it. It's the constant moving of the goal posts. If you don't know when it's going to be delivered, don't give dates.

[Badyouken]

From CTV's Megan Shaw on Twitter:

LRT Update: Mayor Jim Watson now says he expects the keys to system sometime this month. The city was supposed to received the keys tomorrow following 12 days of testing. If deadline is missed RTG will face another $1 million fine. Details tonight.

[rocketphish]

Just in case there's anything different here...

Watson 'confident' LRT will be carrying passengers in September as promised

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: August 15, 2019

Mayor Jim Watson promised Thursday that he would answer all questions about the secretive 12 days of testing immediately after the city accepts the keys to the system.

Watson said the city will hold a full technical briefing on the LRT testing when the testing is complete. But the mayor would not say if he expects that handover to take place on Friday, Aug. 16, as originally planned.

“Our first priority is to get the system up and running from a safety point of view to make sure that when they do hand over the system for the RSA date — the Revenue Service Date — that the system is working 100 per cent to our satisfaction,” Watson said Thursday.

“I get briefed every couple of days on it so I have another briefing on it tomorrow (Friday),” Watson said. “If there’s any news that we have to report out, we’ll
“I feel very confident that we will have the key ceremony — it’s not really a key ceremony — but a ceremony to hand the system from RTG over to OC Transpo and I’m very confident the public will be riding the rails in September,” he said.

The final testing of the 12.5-kilometre, 13 station system began July 29, shortly after the city announced “substantial completion” of the Confederation Line. The testing is being overseen by officials from the city, RTG and an independent certifier provided by the real estate and technology consultant Altus Group. The entire LRT — from trains and track, to signals, fare stations, escalators and emergency systems — must perform at full capacity for 12 days without significant problems before the city accepts possession.

The city has never acknowledged any problems with the test run, even though 17 days have passed in the 12-day test run.

Ottawa’s LRT was originally expected to be complete in May 2018. RTG has missed three targets since then: in November, March and June. Missing the Aug. 16 deadline puts RTG at risk of another $1 million penalty.

“I know people are anxious and they want to see the trains up and running … but before we release the information in terms of when it’s going to be ready, we want to make sure it is ready and at that time we we will give the specific date for passenger service,” Watson said.

“The moment we have the testing complete, the very next day, if it doesn’t fall on a Saturday or a Sunday, we will have a technical briefing that will answer all the questions about the testing and the specific date for when people will ride the rails and the specific date for the official launch.”

bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter: @GetBAC

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...er-as-promised

[Truenorth00]

They'd be fools to push the launch. A botched launch with system failures, lots of delays, trains going out of service, etc. would look way worse than even another 6 months of delays.

Watson needs to take this one on the chin and delay for as long as necessary. 1 month. 6 months. Doesn't matter.

And they need to stop setting deadlines. Just announced that "we're working on making this work and we'll tell you when we're ready to launch".

Also, they really need to replace Manconi. His oversight of this has been rather lackadaisical.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

And they need to stop setting deadlines. Just announced that "we're working on making this work and we'll tell you when we're ready to launch".

But then this becomes "LRT shrouded in secrecy" by the media.

[J.OT13]

Hurdman Station.



https://twitter.com/rail613/status/1162055102494117888


https://twitter.com/RailsOfOttawa/st...07153768951808

Parliament Station.

SunLife entrance.


https://twitter.com/OTrainFans613/st...81485572202501

Heritage Place entrance.


https://twitter.com/OTrainFans613/st...82606311194624

[J.OT13]

A lot of people from the rail office quit on the City over the last few years. They couldn't handle the pressure. I respect Manconi for sticking around through all of this drama. There have been a lot of screw ups over the last few years (changing bus routes a year before the launch, missed deadlines, Westboro bus crash...) but we don't know how much was Manconi and how much was City Staff and Council bossing him around. He's been pretty honest and blunt about the issues facing the system and delays, as much as allowed at least. I have a feeling that once the system is launched and running smoothly, he'll probably walk away from the City. If he does, I won't blame him.

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Also, they really need to replace Manconi. His oversight of this has been rather lackadaisical.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

A lot of people from the rail office quit on the City over the last few years. They couldn't handle the pressure. I respect Manconi for sticking around through all of this drama. There have been a lot of screw ups over the last few years (changing bus routes a year before the launch, missed deadlines, Westboro bus crash...) but we don't know how much was Manconi and how much was City Staff and Council bossing him around. He's been pretty honest and blunt about the issues facing the system and delays, as much as allowed at least. I have a feeling that once the system is launched and running smoothly, he'll probably walk away from the City. If he does, I won't blame him.

Manconi can only play the cards he’s been dealt. And I think he’s done a pretty good job with them.

I don’t see anyone else stepping up to the plate and ready to do a better job than Manconi.

When this LRT thing happens - and we make it through the first winter without trains getting stuck - Manconi will get the respect that he deserves. (As will Uncle Jim.)

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Norman Bates

Manconi can only play the cards he’s been dealt. And I think he’s done a pretty good job with them.

I don’t see anyone else stepping up to the plate and ready to do a better job than Manconi.

When this LRT thing happens - and we make it through the first winter without trains getting stuck - Manconi will get the respect that he deserves. (As will Uncle Jim.)

You don't really think we will make it through the first winter without trains getting stuck do you? The first 20+ cm snowfall and there will be 50,000 people stuck and Blair and 50,000 people stuck at Tunney's, I can almost guarantee it.

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by rondon

Watson is under investigation now as the whole LRT project by RCMP financial crimes unit.

Fake news, while there's been a lot wrong with this project there's nothing criminal about it in either Stage 1 or Stage 2.

[Corvulpes]

a

[sseguin]

The City of Ottawa has just released the following MEMO on the ConfederationLine. A briefing will be held next week to provide further updates about Trial Running, Revenue Service Availability (RSA) and the opening.

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/memo-...ation-line-rsa

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by sseguin

The City of Ottawa has just released the following MEMO on the ConfederationLine. A briefing will be held next week to provide further updates about Trial Running, Revenue Service Availability (RSA) and the opening.

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/memo-...ation-line-rsa

The memo seems relatively positive. I'll continue to hold a healthy amount of skepticism until then.