Ottawa’s LRT will avoid Edmonton glitches: official
Supplier of control system is the same, but conditions in the two cities differ
The LRT control system being installed on the Confederation Line is supplied by the same company at the centre of a major transit headache in Edmonton, but Ottawa’s rail office isn’t worried about using the technology.
Thales Canada is supplying the “communications-based train control” system that will link the Ottawa LRT vehicles with the track signals, making the 12.5-kilometre line fully automated. It’s the technological backbone of the train operations. The control system is part of the $2.1-billion contract with the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) to build the Confederation Line.
The City of Edmonton’s Metro LRT line has been outfitted with a signal system provided by Thales Canada and has watched signal problems impact the transit service, which operates at ground-level. That means the signals have to control both the train movements and the flow of regular traffic. Edmonton council heard that the Thales Canada technology had never been used at street level and now the city is coming up with alternatives in case Thales can’t get the system working properly this month.
Ottawa’s LRT system will be completely separated from roads, even in the planned Stage 2 expansion over the next five years and the expected Stage 3 expansion at an undetermined date. The busonly Transitway is being converted to rail and a 2.5-kilometre tunnel downtown will get trains through the core.
Steve Cripps, the director of O-Train construction, said the challenges facing Edmonton relate to the integration between traffic controls and train controls. The technology is predominantly used for above-ground or below-ground LRT systems, he said.
“Thales is recognized as a world leader in train control system technologies. The City of Ottawa is comfortable with the fact that RTG, the contractor delivering Ottawa’s O -Train LRT Confederation Line, selected Thales to provide the required communications-based train control system for the Confederation Line project,” Cripps said in a written statement.
Thales Canada announced the order to provide signals for the Confederation Line in February 2013. According to the company, its train control technology is part of 60 transit projects around the world. Vancouver and Toronto also use it.
RTG is scheduled to transfer the Confederation Line to the city by Nov. 2. OC Transpo plans to launch the east-west LRT service by the end of that month.
Transportation general manager John Manconi said recently that the train control system is the one part of the project that he’s worried about when it comes to meeting the November launch date. The complex technology needs to be put through months of tests as RTG continues to construct 13 stations and complete the downtown tunnel.