C-train repair plan gets overhaul
Transit to add mechanics, root out and rehab aging cars
Calgary’s overworked and ancient LRT fleet is getting a muchneeded tune-up as Calgary Transit rejigs and rethinks the way its mechanical crews deal with the vehicles, especially the most breakdown-prone ones.
The city’s Siemens U2 light rail cars date back as far as the system’s 1981 inception.
Last year, at the same time as the city prepared new orders to replace the oldest vehicles, it was beset with a string of rush-hour system shutdowns that focused public frustration on service reliability and prompted Mayor Naheed Nenshi to admit: “We have to do a better job.”
A recently released transit report details the city’s $500,000, three-year commitment to squeezing more life and fewer bungles out of the fleet.
The city will hire three new electromechanics and an additional technician to lead maintenance reviews.
But perhaps more important is the way the city rethinks how it does its repair work: Moving extra staff to night and afternoon shifts to prepare as many cars as possible to handle peak service; and a new strategy to continually root out the “weakest” car in the LRT system and give it a full rehab.
“We’re going to rip the guts apart from the frame,” said transit fleet manager Russell Davies. “We’re going to look at exactly what’s going wrong with it over the last three years and we’re going to make sure that never happens again.”
Traditionally, mechanics would only fix problems as they emerged on doors, wheels or other failing parts, instead of doing a full autopsy of the LRT vehicles, he said.
Last year, some attempts to do a better job of repairing the old fleet did improve reliability somewhat over 2010’s performance.
However, the boxy, fibreglass U2 cars break down twice as often as the sleeker, steel body Siemens SD160S, which were introduced to the fleet barely a decade ago.
Calgary is considering different train manufacturers for its next order of 50 LRT vehicles, which will help usher in four-car service and allow some of the oldest trains to hit the scrapyard.
But the delivery of those trains is pegged for 2014, so all the 82 U2s still in use will keep wheezing into service.
Davies’ goal is modest — a 10 per cent improvement in reliability rates in two years. That would bring the failure rate down below a dozen car failures per month, the manager said.
“It may not sound like a lot,” Davies said of his new program’s aim. “But there’s an awful lot of work that needs to get done, and you have to do it across the whole fleet.”
Those new electromechanics will take a year to train, he noted.
Ald. Ray Jones said a renewed maintenance plan is “probably long overdue,” but noted the public understands breakdowns will happen.
“You’ve got to give the department credit for not just the LRTS, but buses, for stretching the lives of these cars as long as they have,” the northeast alderman said.
Transit is also commissioning a pair of third-party reviews of its maintenance program.
One general review will recommend key actions needed to improve the maintenance system. The other will tap a North American transit association to compare Calgary’s system to those in other North American cities and suggest best practices.
Davies said he believes Calgary’s service reliability ranks well against other cities’ systems. But it’s tricky to compare Calgary’s fleet to others in North America, because the C-train has higher ridership than any other light rail service in Canada or the United States.