Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[OTownandDown]

CBC Radio has announced that the testing phase has started as of this afternoon! 12 (or 24) days to go, until the next start-up phase! Woot

[Corvulpes]

a

[CityTech]

Part of the problem is OC made the choice to start service at 5 am on weekdays, an unusually early start. No other rail transit system in Canada starts that early. Montreal & Vancouver start at 5:30 and Toronto at 6:00. This means that after service ends on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (more than half the week) there is only 4 hours of no service, really only 3.5ish when you consider the need to deadhead trains back.

[TheMatth69]

11:30 isn't really a problem. If schedules are based on what's done in Montreal for instance it means that the last trains leaves the Terminus at 11:30. Wich means that in the Downtown core and CBD, trains will stop at something closer to 11:45. In Montreal I remember going in an Orange line station (Champs de Mars) after Igloofest at around 00:40 on a Friday, and trains we're still going, because even if the service is out at 00:30 the train actually has a least (Orange line is 45min from terminus to terminus) 20min to reach the Downtown core. And since there's a train every 10min at that time, it means that I probably got in a train that was 2 or 3 trains ahead of the actual last one.

Tbh what choks me more, isn't the 11:30 closure on sundays, but rathers the 8am start on that same day. It's for me way too late especially when you compare it to Montreal's metro. People actually commute all the time, and people also work on sundays. 8am means that the first train is leaving one of the terminus at 8am, but at Rideau for instance it means no trains before 8:15...

[Corvulpes]

a

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Corvulpes

Some people might commute on Sunday mornings but not enough to justify trains. It's not like there's no service at these times anyway, as buses are still running. They looked at ridership data and chose shutdown hours with the least ridership to meet the needs of maintenance in terms of hours. All very logical, and nobody is losing out on service.

Exactly. Demand will be low and road traffic will be light so the replacement bus service should be very quite quick Sunday mornings. Also, those using the early morning service will mostly be regular users and they will figure out pretty quickly how to find/use the replacement bus route.

[danishh]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

On Queen Street over the weekend, the sound of trains in the subway (!) tunnel, echoing up the vent shafts, was almost constant.

really? Whereabouts on queen can you hear it? Near the stations?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Exactly. Demand will be low and road traffic will be light so the replacement bus service should be very quite quick Sunday mornings. Also, those using the early morning service will mostly be regular users and they will figure out pretty quickly how to find/use the replacement bus route.

The replacement bus routes only run every half hour and despite light traffic, it still takes 15 minutes to get from Rideau to Hurdman, a trip that used to take 5 minutes by the Transitway. I also understand that off-hour bus routes will no longer transverse downtown like they used to. I know Route 97 will end at Rideau.

Of course, there is no replacement route for the Trillium Line. So, if you miss the last train, you are stuck in the middle of nowhere at Bayview Station.

Ottawa's transit system pretty well closes at 11 pm on Sundays and Holidays and it is closed before 8 am as well with only a very few exceptions. This was done some years ago as a cost cutting measure. And the last trips on many routes depart their terminus before 11 pm. Often, the 11 pm cut-off is when they complete their last trip.

I won't be using OC's basic service if I miss the last train. It is too infrequent, too slow and too unreliable. The Parliament Hill event is free and therefore there is no way to recoup extra costs to offer extra service. The city is getting too addicted to the extra money from special event service. As a result, there is no incentive to expand service when needed to serve the public. Ever since the 2011 service optimization, all we do is serve existing customers. There is little desire to expand who we attract to transit unless it is totally accidental. Look at Vancouver for a completely different view that attracting new ridership is considered desirable.

There are all kinds of reasons why OC discourages transit use. This is one of them.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I won't be using OC's basic service if I miss the last train. It is too infrequent, too slow and too unreliable. The Parliament Hill event is free and therefore there is no way to recoup extra costs to offer extra service. The city is getting too addicted to the extra money from special event service. As a result, there is no incentive to expand service when needed to serve the public. Ever since the 2011 service optimization, all we do is serve existing customers. There is little desire to expand who we attract to transit unless it is totally accidental. Look at Vancouver for a completely different view that attracting new ridership is considered desirable.

In Carleton's transportation study there was one section that noted that the University would like increased transit service to encourage more students/professors to use transit, but OC Transpo's response was that they only "monitor" transit usage and increase as needed.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by danishh

really? Whereabouts on queen can you hear it? Near the stations?

There are several spots on Queen. You can see the subway grates/vent shafts (light blue grids along the sidewalks) on the images below. There are also subway grates on Rideau, in front of HBC and I think near the Scotiabank entrance.

Originally Posted by zzptichka

**SNIP**

[lrt's friend]

We walked over the subway grates on Rideau on Sunday evening. Refreshing cool air was coming out of them. Is there going to be climate control in the subway tunnel? I know in Montreal and New York, the subway tunnels can become really warm in the summer. When we parked at the World Exchange building, it was uncomfortably warm underground.

[CityTech]

I don't think the tunnels will be climate controlled.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

We walked over the subway grates on Rideau on Sunday evening. Refreshing cool air was coming out of them. Is there going to be climate control in the subway tunnel? I know in Montreal and New York, the subway tunnels can become really warm in the summer. When we parked at the World Exchange building, it was uncomfortably warm underground.

I watched a video about Montréal's new Azure trains yesterday. They talked about how A/C was not possible on the fully underground Métro's rolling stock because cooling the air in the subway cars means expelling the warm air in the tunnels, which would make them unbearably hot. New York was stated as an example of a system that has A/C equipped on trains, which is one of the reasons why their system is much hotter than than Montréal's.

I wonder how this factors in here. Our trains have A/C, but the tunnel is relatively short. The air movement of the trains might create a good enough cross-breeze to keep the temperature stable. But, our station platforms are much more enclosed (Lyon and Parliament, at least. More New York type stations than Montréal's open and airy designs), which could result in body heat from hundreds of people increasing the temperature to uncomfortable levels.

Outdoor stations seem to have A/C for the elevators.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by danishh

really? Whereabouts on queen can you hear it? Near the stations?

Look closely; you'll spot several grates on the surface where the shafts meet the sidewalk. The one I hear most often is at World Exchange, near the TD bank.

[J.OT13]

Some good information on the process. My assumption was that the 12 day trial period was purely running a regular schedule flawlessly. That made Manconi's comment confusing to me:

On occasions during Trial Running, the public may not see trains running on the Confederation Line. This is normal as there are many different systems being tested at different times throughout this period.

Jon Willing clarifies that there is more to the 12 days of testing, as per the article posted below:

The trial will also give RTG the chance to test scenarios that manage mishaps during operations — the so-called “failure management.” In other words, what happens when the entire LRT line or part of it needs to shut down unexpectedly.

So it's kind of like a drive test. It's more than getting from A to B and back. The person evaluating you will ask that you make some other maneuvers beyond regular driving.

How the Ottawa LRT’s 12-day trial works — and what comes next

Ottawa Citizen
JON WILLING Updated: July 30, 2019

There’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel for the first phase of Ottawa’s largest-ever infrastructure project, with the Rideau Transit Group starting a mandatory 12-day trial run of the Confederation Line LRT and OC Transpo preparing a public launch.

The 12-day trial is RTG’s final exam and the reward for the construction consortium is huge: $202.3 million. The city will be required to release the money, which is a milestone payment that’s part of the overall $2.1-billion project cost, if RTG passes the exam.

On the weekend, the city announced that LRT construction and testing is complete and that the mandatory 12-day trial would begin this week.

The objectives of the 12-consecutive-day trial run are detailed in the contract between RTG and the city. According to the 2013 agreement, two of the overarching goals over the 12 days are to make sure “there are no deficiencies to prevent safe running of the system” and to verify that there’s an “adequate number of trained staff to operate the system.”

During the trial, RTG will run peak and non-peak schedules on the 12.5-kilometre line without taking passengers. Fifteen double-car trains will run during the peak times.

Every part of LRT operations will be tested — elevators and escalators, the public address system, surveillance cameras, ventilation system in the 2.5-kilometre tunnel, fare gates, maintenance program — to make sure the rail line is ready for prime time.

The trial will also give RTG the chance to test scenarios that manage mishaps during operations — the so-called “failure management.” In other words, what happens when the entire LRT line or part of it needs to shut down unexpectedly.

A commissioning team will review the operations each day of the trial run. If there’s a major deficiency, RTG would need to fix the problem and reset the 12-day countdown clock.

The public shouldn’t expect to hear much from the city during the 12-day trial. Staff made it clear to council members there wouldn’t be updates until after the test period is finished.

Starting the 12-day trial this week gives RTG a buffer in case there need to be tweaks during the simulation.

RTG has told the city it can hand over the LRT system by Aug. 16. If the consortium doesn’t, the city can apply another $1-million penalty, just like it has for the missed handover deadlines on May 24, 2018, Nov. 2, 2018, and March 31.

The handover in the contract is called the “revenue service availability,” which means the city would be in a position to start running the LRT line with customers that day. However, after taking possession of the train system the city and Transpo will spend up to four weeks to prepare for the launch.

The $202.3-million payment to RTG is tied to revenue service availability. There was another payment, $59.4 million, tied to the recent substantial completion phase, which was the first time RTG received money from the city in more than a year, since there was no payment made during the LRT delay. The city has been sitting on all the outstanding payment money and collecting interest while waiting for RTG to finish the job.

When the project’s independent certifier and the city’s safety certifier signs off on the revenue service availability, the LRT system will be in Transpo’s hands.

The four-week preparation will be the first time Transpo stress-tests the LRT system with a mass of people. Two simulations involving city workers, their family and friends will help Transpo see how people navigate the 13 stations and, if necessary, make last-minute changes to customer wayfinding signs and staffing.

As for RTG, it will fully transition Stage 1 LRT to a 30-year maintenance program under its affiliate Rideau Transit Maintenance before the parent consortium continues to pump out more Alstom trains to fulfill a Stage 2 LRT order. RTG will also maintain the Stage 2 LRT rail extensions.

If revenue service availability happens Aug. 16, regular customers will be riding trains in September.

[email protected]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...s-12-day-trial-works-and-what-comes-next

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I watched a video about Montréal's new Azure trains yesterday. They talked about how A/C was not possible on the fully underground Métro's rolling stock because cooling the air in the subway cars means expelling the warm air in the tunnels, which would make them unbearably hot. New York was stated as an example of a system that has A/C equipped on trains, which is one of the reasons why their system is much hotter than than Montréal's.

I wonder how this factors in here. Our trains have A/C, but the tunnel is relatively short. The air movement of the trains might create a good enough cross-breeze to keep the temperature stable. But, our station platforms are much more enclosed (Lyon and Parliament, at least. More New York type stations than Montréal's open and airy designs), which could result in body heat from hundreds of people increasing the temperature to uncomfortable levels.

Outdoor stations seem to have A/C for the elevators.

Those elevators would be miserable little fish tanks otherwise. The old transitway elevators are mighty warm, but at least they have tinted glass

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I watched a video about Montréal's new Azure trains yesterday. They talked about how A/C was not possible on the fully underground Métro's rolling stock because cooling the air in the subway cars means expelling the warm air in the tunnels, which would make them unbearably hot. New York was stated as an example of a system that has A/C equipped on trains, which is one of the reasons why their system is much hotter than than Montréal's.

I wonder how this factors in here. Our trains have A/C, but the tunnel is relatively short. The air movement of the trains might create a good enough cross-breeze to keep the temperature stable. But, our station platforms are much more enclosed (Lyon and Parliament, at least. More New York type stations than Montréal's open and airy designs), which could result in body heat from hundreds of people increasing the temperature to uncomfortable levels.

Outdoor stations seem to have A/C for the elevators.

Every new system I have used has AC in the stations and cars.

[Gat-Train]

Originally Posted by kmcamp

Those elevators would be miserable little fish tanks otherwise. The old transitway elevators are mighty warm, but at least they have tinted glass

The elevator cladding doesn't do anything to protect from sunlight?

[kmcamp]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Every new system I have used has AC in the stations and cars.

In Asia that's true, but I can't think of an air conditioned example for the stations anywhere I've been in North America or Europe. Usually platform doors are a requirement for climate controlled stations.

The REM will feature climate control.

[Badyouken]

So, Corvulpes, any chance some of us can get in on the "Workers, Family and Friends" ride that they have planned ahead of opening day? It'd be neat to take part