Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[lrt's friend]

Analysis: Ottawa's four-month old LRT system shouldn't have
this many problems already

JON WILLING Updated: January 20, 2020

OC Transpo had to deliver afternoon peak service
on the Confederation Line with three fewer trains
than usual Monday, with worries the train
shortage would continue Tuesday morning in
what has been an abysmal start of the year for the
$2.1-billion LRT system.

It’s almost as if the City of Ottawa is reaching a breaking point on the
durability of LRT and the performance of Rideau Transit Maintenance, an
offshoot of the Rideau Transit Group (RTG).

“They’re going to have to give us some straight goods here on the trains,”
transit chair Allan Hubley said Monday after calling a special meeting of
the transit commission for later this week to address the recent, and
unusual, LRT problems.

Only 10 of the usual 13 trains were available Monday afternoon, after
running the morning peak service with 11 trains.

Then, between the morning and afternoon service periods, two trains had
to be removed from the 12.5-kilometre rail line because one train had a
wheel problem and the other had a compressor problem.

The times between trains during peak service is four minutes when 13
trains are running.

With only 10 trains, wait times were increased by about
one minute and Transpo was predicting a 20-per-cent increase to the
number of people waiting on platforms and crammed into the trains.

The Tuesday morning peak service might also only have 10 trains, leading
Transpo to consider launching the replacement R1 bus service to help the
LRT system move customers.

It was the last thing Transpo needed after a five-day period that included
a broken overhead wire near St. Laurent Station and malfunctioning
switches during the weekend snowstorm.

John Manconi, the city’s general manager of transportation, sent a memo
to members of council and the transit commission saying city brass is
demanding RTG fix the problems with LRT.

Manconi’s memo talked about switch heaters as being one of the
problems.

This won’t be new to inspectors who watched RTG’s construction of the
Confederation Line and noted concerns with the switch heaters across
the entire rail system. This newspaper has reported on those inspection
documents (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...deficienciesin-lead-up-to-march-deadline) , including one document from last winter
that flagged the performance of switch heaters during heavy snowfall.

As Hubley pointed out, the problems in recent days have been particularly
strange.

“That’s not stuff that should be happening,” he said.

Should people expect a snapped overhead catenary system wire four
months into revenue service?

Probably not, but, as the public has been told, these things can happen.
Should heaters have problems keeping snow and ice off the track
switches during a snow storm?

Probably not, because inspectors told RTG to improve the devices during
the testing.

Should Transpo have to run LRT service, at one of the busiest times of
day, short three trains?

No, because there should be enough spare trains ready to go.

Central to the issue of trains is how many are actually revenue-service
ready.

It’s been a mystery how many Alstom Citadis Spirit trains of the
city’s order of 34 LRT vehicles for Stage 1 are fully functional.

First, the city said it needed 15 double-vehicle trains (so, 30 vehicles
connected in pairs) to satisfy peak-period service.
That number was
decreased to 13 double-vehicle trains, based on actual ridership numbers,
which would suggest there’s a solid standby fleet.

Yet, RTG couldn’t produce 13 double-car trains for the Monday afternoon
peak service, adding time to the train headways, during a frostbite
advisory.
Hubley agreed that an explanation is warranted at the transit commission
meeting, which has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

If RTG is having trouble keeping an operational fleet available each day,
there could be an unwillingness from Transpo to add more trains into
regular service and decrease the wait times.
There’s no point raising in
the expectations of customers only to fail meeting a new standard.

The Christmas and New Year holiday period was a chance for RTG to get
ahead on its maintenance regime with a reduced ridership, but not even
three weeks into the year it’s being called on the carpet by its client to
explain why it can’t meet its contract commitments so early in their 30-
year maintenance agreement.

Failing Transpo’s LRT service standards continues to financially hurt RTG,
which isn’t getting its monthly payment from the city because of the
problems.

RTG acknowledged receipt of an email with two technical questions this
newspaper had Monday, but as of deadline there were no answers.

The questions were about the reasons for the train shortage and the switch
problems.

Hubley said by calling a special meeting of the transit commission for
later in the week — a meeting he expects will include RTG — he hopes it
will give the company time to stabilize service, or at least have a plan.

“It upsets me a lot. Why are we going through this when it can be so easily
prevented?” Hubley said.

“It takes your words away. This is what they’re well-paid to do.

Why aren’t they getting it done for us?”

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...shouldnt-have-this-many-problems-already

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Flying Spaghetti Monster be praised; I'd dread to see what the rush-hour platforms and stairwells would be like if it were.

They would probably look the way they do now with the teething problems, or botched the implementation (depending on one's perspective), but that should be decades away if they figure out how to get the system functioning in a normal way.

[daud]

According to an Ottawa citizen article we were briefly down to eight trains in service today. Seems to be back at 9 now

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...ne-1-broken-water-main-on-robertson-road

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by acottawa

They would probably look the way they do now with the teething problems, or botched the implementation (depending on one's perspective), but that should be decades away if they figure out how to get the system functioning in a normal way.

It is probably a bit of both. The biggest thing they botched is only having 13 trainsets at launch. I suspect that some of the other problems we are seeing are trickle down effects of that decision.

With the latest issue of not even being able to get all 13 trainsets running, it makes me believe that the reason for the 13 trainset cap is that they haven't been able to get the other ones working. It is even possible that they shortchanged on spares, forcing them to reduce the amount of regular maintenance the trains are receiving, putting extra strain on them and contributing to this latest shortage.

I'm starting to wonder if we would have been better off with the Bombardier Flexity Freedom, despite all of its issues.

[Radster]

Originally Posted by roger1818

It is probably a bit of both. The biggest thing they botched is only having 13 trainsets at launch. I suspect that some of the other problems we are seeing are trickle down effects of that decision.

With the latest issue of not even being able to get all 13 trainsets running, it makes me believe that the reason for the 13 trainset cap is that they haven't been able to get the other ones working. It is even possible that they shortchanged on spares, forcing them to reduce the amount of regular maintenance the trains are receiving, putting extra strain on them and contributing to this latest shortage.

I'm starting to wonder if we would have been better off with the Bombardier Flexity Freedom, despite all of its issues.

Actually, in this CBC article, it is stated that all 15 double trains are working and being regularly rotated. This is the first time I see this officially confirmed in the news. This means that even though 15 are available, they never run more than 13 at a time. Big question is why.

The city owns 17 double-carriage trains for the Confederation Line, but two trains have yet to be sufficiently tested and are not ready for service.

The other 15 are used in regular rotation or as backups, said Brockington.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-trains-replacement-buses-1.5434124

[SkeggsEggs]

Originally Posted by Radster

Actually, in this CBC article, it is stated that all 15 double trains are working and being regularly rotated. This is the first time I see this officially confirmed in the news. This means that even though 15 are available, they never run more than 13 at a time. Big question is why.

The city owns 17 double-carriage trains for the Confederation Line, but two trains have yet to be sufficiently tested and are not ready for service.

The other 15 are used in regular rotation or as backups, said Brockington.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-trains-replacement-buses-1.5434124

Aren't 2 trains kept as spares. We were supposed to have 17 trains, 15 running and 2 as spares. Instead we opened with 15 trains, 13 running and 2 as spares.

[OCCheetos]

Uh, all 17 trains (or rather all 34 vehicles that make up the 17 trains) have been observed in operation. There was a full list on OTrainFans. We definitely had all 17 trains running in rotation at some point.

With that in mind, it seemed like we were running 13 trains with 4 spares.


Are we sure the Stage 2 trains aren't being mistaken for something else here?

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by SkeggsEggs

Aren't 2 trains kept as spares. We were supposed to have 17 trains, 15 running and 2 as spares. Instead we opened with 15 trains, 13 running and 2 as spares.

Bad Day.

....and I would hope / expect that with this drastic shortage, that they are / should be running with NO spares.

Get 'em ALL out there for the best availability possible...... at 11 - 10 - 9 - 8, spares just don't count now !

Not Good !

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by SkeggsEggs

Aren't 2 trains kept as spares. We were supposed to have 17 trains, 15 running and 2 as spares. Instead we opened with 15 trains, 13 running and 2 as spares.

Yes. The wording was confusing, but that is what Brockington was saying in a round about way. My speculation was that we didn't even have 15 trains, but I have been proven wrong.

The next question is, is 2 spare trains enough? I always had my doubts. All you need is for a couple trains to get damaged and suddenly you don't have any spares. Maybe it would be if we had all 17 trains, as there would be some reserve capacity should we need to take a train or two out of service, but with 13 trains, we are running at (or above?) capacity and there is no room to remove a train or two from service without significant disruption.

[sseguin]

In this video interview with Mayor Jim Watson, we discuss the opening of the Confederation Line, the ongoing issues, Stage 2 & 3, the Prince of Wales bridge to Gatineau, the future of Hamilton's LRT and more.

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/interview-with-mayor-jim-watson-january-2020

I would also like to invite you all to subscribe to our Youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/c/otrainfans?sub_confirmation=1
More videos are releasing very soon.

[lrt's friend]

CBC news at one point this morning said we were down to 7 trains first thing this morning but were up to 9 by 9 a.m.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

They would probably look the way they do now with the teething problems, or botched the implementation (depending on one's perspective), but that should be decades away if they figure out how to get the system functioning in a normal way.

They'd be unsafe, in other words.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa blames private partner as train shortage bedevils new transit line

The Canadian Press
Updated: January 21, 2020

OTTAWA — Riders on Ottawa’s problem-plagued light-rail system are having another rough morning, with the city’s transit agency saying only eight the usual 13 trains on the downtown line started daily service.

The city is blaming the company it hired to design, build and maintain the line, which opened last fall.

Since then, the $2.1-billion system has been repeatedly brought to a halt by problems with stuck doors on trains as well as onboard computers that have failed.

Trains have also been taken out of service because the wheels, apparently, have flat spots.

And just in the last week, parts of the line have been shut down by a snapped power cable and switches that didn’t work in a weekend snowstorm.

The city’s transit agency, OC Transpo, apologized to riders for trains and platforms that were extra crowded, as well as longer-than-usual waits because an array of separate problems that kept more than half of its 17 trains off the tracks during the morning commute.

The system will be two trains short during mid-day service, OC Transpo said, with only nine trains running of the usual 11 during the lull between rush hours, and wait times upped by a minute.

Ottawa’s transit manager, John Maconi, said in a statement Monday afternoon that the city is pressuring the private company that maintains the system to “get the job done” and “live up to the standards expected by our transit customers.”

OC Transpo said it is billing the maintenance company for replacement buses, but there aren’t enough of those to keep up with the need.

The chair of the city’s transit commission told two morning talk shows that the company, Rideau Transit Maintenance, has had problems completing maintenance work on the wheels.

Coun. Allan Hubley said in separate interviews aired Tuesday morning that the wheels have developed flat spots and need to be taken out of service.

The company has a 30-year maintenance contract with the city.

Sarah Wright-Gilbert, a citizen member of the transit commission, lamented on Twitter that OC Transpo and Rideau Transit Maintenance “need to step up their game,” writing “the trains lose power because they are dirty” and now “the trains break down because their wheels are no longer round.”

“If RTM isn’t performing their contractual obligations, then it’s time for them to go,” she tweeted.


This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2020.

https://ottawacitizen.com/pmn/news-pmn/c...wcm/7f47924c-7739-41c0-96ca-9f9762400e57

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Ottawa’s transit manager, John Maconi, said in a statement Monday afternoon that the city is pressuring the private company that maintains the system to “get the job done” and “live up to the standards expected by our transit customers.”

I always hate arguments like that. Customer expectations are irrelevant (regardless if they valid or not). What is relevant is their contractual obligations. If there is no contractual obligation to keep a certain number of trains running, that is a huge problem

“If RTM isn’t performing their contractual obligations, then it’s time for them to go,” she tweeted.

Be careful what you wish for. While RTM certainly need to "step up their game" so to speak, but trying to replace them will likely result in a whole lot of pain. RTM have been trained on our system and trains. It would take years for another company to get up to speed on it. I hate to say it, but like it or not, we are stuck with RTM for the time being, and I think they know it.

[MalcolmTucker]

"Deductions to the monthly service payments will reasonably reflect the severity of the consequences to the City of a particular failure (availability, quality or service)."

"The failure point thresholds trigger oneof five events under the Project Agreement: 1)warning notice; 2)monitoring notice; 3)exercise of remedial rights; 4)replacement of maintenance contractor; 5)Project Co default."

Replacing RTM would be a level 4 event, but it could also trigger a Rideau Transit Group default (level 5), if it makes maintaining the contract not worth it.


If the city isn't yet imposing deductions to the monthly service payments to keep the buses on stand-by and run them, they should be.

[Kitchissippi]

What I find really ridiculous is that when they do a road widening from 2 to 4 lanes or in the case of the Queensway from 3 to 4 lanes, capacity doubles or increases by a third. The Confederation Line should have opened with at least 50% capacity from the Transitway from day 1. Trains might have often run half empty but what better way to attract ridership than people thinking this was a roomy, comfortable way to go.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Coun. Allan Hubley said in separate interviews aired Tuesday morning that the wheels have developed flat spots and need to be taken out of service

Trains all over the world run on steel wheels--and our LRT steel wheels develop flat spots in only a few months of operation?

This complete know-nothing layman (me) then jumps to the conclusion that our wheels were made from sub-standard( cheaper) steel. I would guess that Alstom needs to replace every single wheel on all of trains with ones made of better grade steel.

What thinketh other peoples?

[MalcolmTucker]

Wheels need regular grinding on all systems to get rid of flat spots. Wheels on systems with automatic train control tend to develop flat spots more rapidly than manually controlled systems due to less variation in acceleration and deceleration. So if RTM used a grinding interval in their maintenance plan for manually controlled LRT (likely, as I believe these models haven't been used in a application with automatic control before), they could have easily ended up with this problem.

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Wheels need regular grinding on all systems to get rid of flat spots. Wheels on systems with automatic train control tend to develop flat spots more rapidly than manually controlled systems due to less variation in acceleration and deceleration. So if RTM used a grinding interval in their maintenance plan for manually controlled LRT (likely, as I believe these models haven't been used in a application with automatic control before), they could have easily ended up with this problem.

Good Day.

We have no idea what is causing the wheels to stop rotating.

The statements were that the wheels were not rolling, leading to scraping along the rails without rolling.
Thus making a flat spot, which would then have to be ground out. This also helps generate the smoke reported.

So.... do we have
faulty wheels that flat out too easily, creating a non-rolling wheel, or
roller bearings that are seizing up and freezing a wheel, generating an additional fault of a flat spot, or
faulty bogies that cannot support the wheelsets and bearings, or
........

We have no fault cause reports, only fault result reports.

Standing By ...........

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

What I find really ridiculous is that when they do a road widening from 2 to 4 lanes or in the case of the Queensway from 3 to 4 lanes, capacity doubles or increases by a third. The Confederation Line should have opened with at least 50% capacity from the Transitway from day 1. Trains might have often run half empty but what better way to attract ridership than people thinking this was a roomy, comfortable way to go.

Good Day.

And we have a huge BINGO ! Thank You.

I was concerned when they said they were designing and building to day-one capacity of the last-day T-Way capacity. Trains, Platforms, Frequency. No increase.