Confederation LRT Line unlikely ready for testing by May deadline, RTG says
The consortium building Ottawa’s Confederation LRT Line will not meet its contractual obligation to turn over the keys in May, 2018.
In its $2.1-billion contract with the city, Rideau Transit Group agreed to a so-called revenue service availability date of May 24, 2018. This doesn’t mean trains would go into service on that date. Instead, it signifies the system would be ready for OC Transpo to assume control and complete the necessary tests required to get trains ready for passengers.
But late last month, RTG officials informed the city there’s a good chance the company may need an extension due a variety of circumstances, including delays caused by the June, 2016, sinkhole on Rideau Street.
“The date is moving. We don’t know exactly when and we’re mapping that out with RTG,” transportation services general manager John Manconi said Friday at a city hall briefing.
Mayor Jim Watson and city manager Steve Kanellakos were advised of the development immediately, Manconi said, while the chairs of the transit and transportation committees were told this week.
The rest of council officially learned Friday, though only two attended the briefing.
The city has asked RTG for a revised schedule and a firm completion date that doesn’t compromise the time required for OC Transpo to test the 12.5-kilometre lightrail line between Blair station and Tunney’s Pasture.
“In other words, we’re not going to compress those days and weeks of testing to make up any time that’s associated with getting the schedule to the state we both agree to,” Manconi said.
He maintained residents should still expect to board the train sometime next year.
In fact, the 2018 budget, approved this week, forecasts some budgetary savings “based on a midyear opening of the Confederation Line.”
“In terms of a date for when the city decides to put the train into service, we have said all along and continue to say our current forecast is that the train will be put in service in 2018.”
Without using the word “penalties,” Manconi said the city has measures in place to protect taxpayers should RTG miss its deadline.
Financial disincentives at the city’s discretion include deferring milestones and withholding monthly service payments to RTG, he said. “There’s no incentive for RTG to drag this out.”
RTG’s technical director Peter Lauch wouldn’t say how much extra time the company needs to complete its work. “We need to have the discussion with the city first,” he said.
The initial timeline was reasonable, he said, but didn’t take into considerations incidents like the June 2016, sinkhole, which stalled construction. “The ramifications of the sinkhole had an effect,” Lauch said.
Once a new revenue service availability date is agreed on, exactly how long the city will need for testing is not something Manconi would speculate on. Some of the necessary changes are already underway, such as route and fare changes, driver training and utilization of a stretch of test track between Blair station and the University of Ottawa.
“You don’t wait for the end,” Manconi said.
“There’s a bunch of systems that all talk to each other and are integrated, and need to be tested and commissioned and included in what’s called trial running.”
The briefing also included construction highlights.
Twenty of the total 25 kilometres of dual track have been completed, including one kilometre of track in the 2.5-km tunnel underneath downtown.
Of the 34 LRT vehicles to be assembled at the plant on Belfast Road, 20 are done and work is now underway on five additional vehicles.
In the coming months, RTG will finish the tunnel, all 13 stations and the overhead wiring needed to power the trains.
OC Transpo, meanwhile, will continue its Ready for Rail public education campaign, implement route changes, and manage the transition for employees, some of whom will be laid off. mpearson@postmedia.com Twitter.com/mpearson78