Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[urbanforest]

The folks at Railfans have a webpage setup to track the LRT cars that are actually in service. It’s all crowdsourced but neat to see that in the past day or so, only 21 of 71 cars have been spotted and reported on line 1. https://www.railfans.ca/traintracker/dashboard.php

[rocketphish]

Latest Line 1 wheel issue linked to overloading, expert says
Metal flaking in wheel assembly appears related to previous issues, according to expert

Priscilla Ki Sun Hwang · CBC News
Posted: Jan 22, 2026 6:22 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

As the latest wheel assembly issues plaguing Ottawa's LRT system caused overcrowded trains and stations Thursday, an expert on those components says overloading is a factor — and despite what the city suggests — it appears related to previous wheel problems.

On Wednesday, OC Transpo said "spalling" — or metal flaking — was detected on several cartridge bearing assemblies. If not addressed, the spalling inside the axle bearing could cause cracks and eventual failure, the city said.

Those wheel bearings assemblies, which support the weight of the train, have failed before, causing a derailment in 2021 and forcing a lengthy LRT shutdown in 2023.

The latest defects are "separate" from the one that caused previous issues, according to Troy Charter, OC Transpo's interim general manager.

But an expert who specializes in the monitoring and diagnosis of bearing faults questioned that statement.

"As soon as I read the OC Transpo message, I had a little internal chuckle," said University of Ottawa professor Patrick Dumond.

"Now, it is a different issue, but I believe it's completely related to the previous issues we've had. They're both related to an overloading of these bearing cartridges."

The latest problem further indicates the trains are too heavy for the original cartridge bearing assemblies, Dumond said.

He referred to a previous instance where the nuts holding the bearings in the assembly were getting loose. There were suggestions from Alstom, the train maker, that forces from the rail tracks were overloading the assemblies.

"It's not just these rails that are causing overloading," Dumond said. "Because of the spalling, it's the average load of the train I think in continuous use that is too high for this setup."


<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/la...ked-to-overloading-expert-says-9.7056019

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I reread the news story from the LRT inquiry a few days ago and Alstom claimed that the track was not installed properly. Was there ever a final conclusion on this?

For the record, REM trains go through similar curves south of Gare Centrale and do not experience the same grinding or slow downs.

Line 5 Eglinton does not use the same trains as Finch West because the trains were selected before Ottawa placed its order. It has been that long under construction. On the other hand, Line 10 in Mississauga will also use the same Alstom trains. Good luck

Easy to forget how old the Eglinton procurement is.

Originally Posted by SkeggsEggs

the past few times I used it on a weekend it was a single.

I think I misunderstood the article. "Normally double train sets" yeah.. from a bygone era seemingly. I thought it was implying they had just switched back.

Originally Posted by SkeggsEggs

reasonably full but not packed. they don't do a great job of making it clear where the train will stop for people not used to the single train service.

Easily my favourite part of OC. God awful comms. We can't even have those markings on the platform where the doors lineup anymore because Temu?

For a cash strapped organization streamlining your comms has to easily be the easiest way of smoothing out your service. Anytime you wanna let me know which side of the trainset to exit on I'm all for it!

[lrt's friend]

Only 18 trains running, with a return to full service that may take months. What a disaster, when we also consider the bus problems as well

[rocketphish]

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