Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[Uhuniau]

This is too good to not save until the 10th anniversary of its publication.

Overhead wires riding the train back to Ottawa
Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, January 7, 2013

...

One of the first things about overhead lines that struck me was the hazard presented by freezing rain, of which we seem to be getting more and more.

Would this not impair the system?

[John Jensen, director of rail implementation for the City of Ottawa] says all of this was studied thoroughly in the context of our wildly swinging climate and wires still came out best.

We did find reference to a ridiculous snow and ice storm in 1942 that shut the entire streetcar system for the better part of a week.

And, why yes, it is the 15th anniversary of the Ice Storm of 1998. But worry not. All aboard!

[rocketphish]

The Gong Show continues...

East-end LRT still down after ice buildup, damage to power system
Passerby saw sparks coming from power system before shutdown

CBC News
Posted: Jan 05, 2023 6:21 AM ET | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago



Ottawa's light rail trains have now been offline for more than 12 hours between Blair and uOttawa stations after freezing rain likely damaged the Confederation Line's overhead power system.

OC Transpo tweeted just before 5 a.m. Thursday the line was fully closed.

The agency said around 6:15 a.m. that the western part of the line between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa stations had reopened, but as of 4:45 p.m. the remaining eastern stretch was still shut down.

R1 replacement buses continue to run between Rideau and Blair stations.

In a Thursday morning memo, Renée Amilcar, the city's transit services general manager, said two trains stopped around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday night between Lees and Hurdman stations.

After just under an hour, 37 passengers were escorted to Hurdman to get on a bus, Amilcar said.

It's believed ice buildup on the power system stopped the trains, she said. Video tweeted just after 11 p.m. showed bright flashes and sparks around the system near Hurdman.

There was another power outage that lasted less than half an hour between Blair and Tremblay stations just after midnight Thursday.

Amilcar said because freezing rain kept falling and trains weren't running, ice began to form on the power system east of Lees.

In her first of two followup memos, Amilcar wrote that the two trains between Lees and Hurdman remained halted as of 6:30 a.m., while a third train was still stopped at Tremblay.

Maintenance workers were removing ice from the power system and that was delaying moving those trains, she said.

On Thursday afternoon, Amilcar provided a further update: as one of the trains near Lees was being returned to OC Transpo's maintenance facility, part of the overhead wire powering the train was damaged.

That would have to be repaired, she wrote, and the entire system would have to be inspected before full service could resume.

Amilcar did not say how long that would take. She promised a further update Thursday evening.

Rideau Transit Maintenance believes the "significant" sparks, or arcing, that occurred Wednesday night may also have damaged the overhead system, Amilcar said.

She added the phenomenon is fairly common.

"Flashes of light or sparks, known as 'arcing', frequently occur in inclement weather in Ottawa and on similar rail systems with overhead power," Amilcar wrote.

"On O-Train Line 1, there are safety measures in place to ensure that when arcing occurs the train can continue to operate safely."

A freezing rain warning was in place for Ottawa until 10 a.m. Thursday. Freezing rain was reported at the international airport starting around 10 p.m. Wednesday, switching to freezing drizzle early Thursday morning.

Concerns about the LRT system's winter performance date to before it opened, according to reports obtained by CBC at the time. A provincial inquiry last year said the line was rushed into service.

More recently, there were two problems with the power system in the back half of December 2022: a mechanical failure Dec. 17 near Lees station and a broken wire near Cyrville station Dec. 30.

With files from Trevor Pritchard

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-shut-down-ice-power-r1-1.6704277

[lrt's friend]

Every time I rode the train in the last few weeks, dwell times were about 4 times what was needed. You could almost hear the crickets at every stop, and then look at your watch.
Well ...... when are they going to close? Meanwhile, cold air is blowing into the train's many open doors. Come on! We need to improve this.

[Harley613]

The ice storm today is one of the few times that I haven't rolled my eyes about an O-Train outage. That's bound to happen in these conditions, regardless of the quality of the system.

[lrt's friend]

Every time we have another failure, it is another blow against public trust in our transit system. No wonder public servants want to work from home. This has been going on for over three years, 10% of the maintenance agreement.

We are seeing talk but not enough action. Three years and still many outstanding issues that affect public confidence and service quality.

On-time performance percentages are garbage when the plan to deal with failures is also crap.

This is far from a world class system. It is quite apparent that cost cutting was a misguided idea, or cuts were made in the wrong places.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Harley613

The ice storm today is one of the few times that I haven't rolled my eyes about an O-Train outage. That's bound to happen in these conditions, regardless of the quality of the system.

“Ice Storm” is a big of an exaggeration. It was pretty mild freezing rain by Ottawa standards.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Harley613

The ice storm today is one of the few times that I haven't rolled my eyes about an O-Train outage. That's bound to happen in these conditions, regardless of the quality of the system.

I don't agree. Electric trains have existed since before 1890. We had electric streetcars from 1891 to 1959. I am an amateur historian and I have not read of many instances when our streetcars failed due to freezing rain. Just one from December 1942, which was an exceptional storm. Have we not learned in 130 years on how to deal with freezing rain? Just look at that video of the arcing. We need a better solution that can deal with this. Now they are talking about serious damage and a significant shutdown. How many days before service resumes? Unacceptable. Does this happen in other cities? Shutdowns measured in days, or with previous issues, weeks or months.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by acottawa

“Ice Storm” is a big of an exaggeration. It was pretty mild freezing rain by Ottawa standards.

Exactly. Minor freezing rain episodes should not cause rail outages. More importantly though, catenaries should not be damaged due to the moving of disabled trains. That's the bigger embarrassment here.

"...as one of the trains near Lees was being returned to OC Transpo's maintenance facility, part of the overhead wire powering the train was damaged.

That would have to be repaired, she wrote, and the entire system would have to be inspected before full service could resume.

Amilcar did not say how long that would take.

Then on Thursday evening, Amilcar said repairs were still underway on the system near Lees and would continue through the night."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-shut-down-ice-power-r1-1.6704277

[SidetrackedSue]

The fact that freezing rain destroys the lines, not just interferes with them until it melts, is the concern.

As for door open Dwell Times, are those not due to the non-functioning 'reverse sensors' feature? I thought the doors have to remain open for a long time because if someone touches a closing door while exiting/entering, that disables the door, not auto reverses it.

I understood those exaggerated dwell times are required because it reduces the door failures.

[Nexus2049]

Should have gone third rail

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Nexus2049

Should have gone third rail

I don't think that would have been a solution for a rail line running mostly at grade. Third rail systems need very strict security to prevent access to the line. How many kms will the Confederation Line be running at grade after Phase 2? Most third rail systems run underground or on an elevated guideway. Even with elevated guideways, third rail systems are vulnerable to snow and ice accumulation. So, pick your poison. Ice build up on the catenary wires, or ice and snow build up on the third rail. This is one of the reasons why Montreal's Metro was originally built entirely underground. We will see if REM is also vulnerable to icy weather, but notice they also did not choose third rail.

[c_speed3108]

Broken again... https://twitter.com/WTL/status/1611363912422948864?s=20&t=i8N69WSwiWNolBGdNpnw1g

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

Broken again... https://twitter.com/WTL/status/1611363912422948864?s=20&t=i8N69WSwiWNolBGdNpnw1g

I guess I'm driving to work next week.

[Fading Isle]

I don’t understand why the overhead wires keep breaking. Toronto gets a fair amount of freezing rain too and has 83 km of streetcar lines that all use overhead wires. I don’t remember this ever happening with freezing rain there, and if it did, it didn’t put that particular line out of commission for very long. Maybe I’m wrong and this happens all the time there too.

[Fading Isle]

Originally Posted by Fading Isle

I don’t understand why the overhead wires keep breaking. Toronto gets a fair amount of freezing rain too and has 83 km of streetcar lines that all use overhead wires. I don’t remember this ever happening with freezing rain there, and if it did, it didn’t put that particular line out of commission for very long. Maybe I’m wrong and this happens all the time there too.

And wikipedia has an answer:

“ The streetcar overhead is vulnerable during freezing rain storms. During such storms, the TTC applies anti-freeze to the overhead wire to prevent ice from interrupting electrical contact. In addition, the TTC attaches "sliders" to trolley poles on every fifth streetcar to knock ice off the overhead wire. The TTC places overhead crews on standby at various locations around the streetcar network to address problems of power loss or overhead wires coming down.

The anti-freeze used on the overheard wire is also applied to streetcar switches on the network. In addition, the TTC runs "storm cars" overnight on all routes to prevent any ice build-up on switches that the anti-freeze could not prevent.”

Does Ottawa do something similar?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Fading Isle

And wikipedia has an answer:

“ The streetcar overhead is vulnerable during freezing rain storms. During such storms, the TTC applies anti-freeze to the overhead wire to prevent ice from interrupting electrical contact. In addition, the TTC attaches "sliders" to trolley poles on every fifth streetcar to knock ice off the overhead wire. The TTC places overhead crews on standby at various locations around the streetcar network to address problems of power loss or overhead wires coming down.

The anti-freeze used on the overheard wire is also applied to streetcar switches on the network. In addition, the TTC runs "storm cars" overnight on all routes to prevent any ice build-up on switches that the anti-freeze could not prevent.”

Does Ottawa do something similar?

I think we can guess the answer to this question. No matter, they are not addressing it adequately.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I don't think that would have been a solution for a rail line running mostly at grade. Third rail systems need very strict security to prevent access to the line. How many kms will the Confederation Line be running at grade after Phase 2? Most third rail systems run underground or on an elevated guideway. Even with elevated guideways, third rail systems are vulnerable to snow and ice accumulation. So, pick your poison. Ice build up on the catenary wires, or ice and snow build up on the third rail. This is one of the reasons why Montreal's Metro was originally built entirely underground. We will see if REM is also vulnerable to icy weather, but notice they also did not choose third rail.

AFAIK the Confederation Line is fully fenced. Lots of third rail systems run at grade for significant chunks (including the TTC).

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by acottawa

AFAIK the Confederation Line is fully fenced. Lots of third rail systems run at grade for significant chunks (including the TTC).

The difference being that in Ottawa, grade running is 'substantial' versus 'significant'. But, beyond that is the issue of snow and ice accumulation, which is even more problematic than with catenary wires.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Fading Isle

And wikipedia has an answer:

“ The streetcar overhead is vulnerable during freezing rain storms. During such storms, the TTC applies anti-freeze to the overhead wire to prevent ice from interrupting electrical contact. In addition, the TTC attaches "sliders" to trolley poles on every fifth streetcar to knock ice off the overhead wire. The TTC places overhead crews on standby at various locations around the streetcar network to address problems of power loss or overhead wires coming down.

The anti-freeze used on the overheard wire is also applied to streetcar switches on the network. In addition, the TTC runs "storm cars" overnight on all routes to prevent any ice build-up on switches that the anti-freeze could not prevent.”

Does Ottawa do something similar?

"Storm cars" is supposed to be part of the deal, but I'm not sure if they actually implement it.

As for the anti-freeze and every other TTC practice, it seems it wasn't in the Project Agreement. As I said earlier, the City went with P3 in part to rely on the "expertise" of the private sector, but the private sector did not innovate (or include existing best practices) beyond what the City had requested in the RFP. All part of keeping the project "on budget" because the Province and Feds short-changed us.

[daud]

I'm no expert by any means but as a taxpayer...

This is just an absolute disaster. Its a total lemon from so many angles but its very clear the technology, design and equipment does not meet the challenges of our needs nor especially our climate. Its just one thing after another but it feels to me like a lego set with about 10% of the pieces incorrectly placed and the rest just pushed together.

To what degree would covering sections of the line help (cheaply)? Obviously these freezing rain issues (and lightning which actually impacted the system before). Not sure what the feasibility or ultimate benefit of doing so would be but the elements of our climate-wind, lightning freezing rain, snow have all impacted the system quite extensively in the past ~4 years on many occasions.

If I am not mistaken there is some cover of the line around the maintenance yard/belfast. that's sort of what I am thinking the line might benefit from though it would be pretty unsightly.