A PERFECT STORM
Two others break down as winter storm begins to drop snow on city and region
On the eve of this winter’s worst storm, an LRT train sits idle east of St. Laurent Station because part of the catenary came loose. Near Tremblay Station, a passenger suffered a medical emergency on another stopped train. A third train was stopped at uOttawa.
Mere hours after the first snowflakes of a major winter storm started to fall, commuters had to evacuate trains on the Confederation Line when a component of its overhead power system malfunctioned and service ground to a halt.
According to emailed information from city transportation general manager John Manconi, a part of the light rail catenary system became “loose” east of St. Laurent Station.
It was not immediately clear if the issue was weather-related. But Wednesday afternoon marked the beginning of what’s been forecast as the worst storm of the winter season thus far, an event OC Transpo was already anticipating could challenge light-rail operations.
Earlier in the day, Manconi sent a memo outlining OC Transpo’s plans for the storm: Communication and staffing would be enhanced, Rideau Transit Maintenance would keep up with snow clearing, and supplementary bus service would run alongside the Confederation Line during the afternoon peak.
“In the event that we need to implement R1 service, for example, due to a stopped train on the line, S1 service would be cancelled and those buses would be redeployed to provide R1 service.”
That’s exactly what happened after the catenary system malfunctioned sometime around 4 p.m.
Initially, one train was held up near St. Laurent and passengers evacuated onto waiting buses. Then, another train stopped east of Tremblay Station, again requiring passengers to disembark. Paramedics were called to the scene after one passenger requested medical assistance “not related to the incident,” according to Manconi.
R1 bus service launched between Hurdman and Blair, while trains continued to run between Tunney’s Pasture and Hurdman. Transit riders took to social media to share photos and personal accounts of passenger bottlenecks at LRT stations and significant disruptions to their afternoon commute.
Crews were dispatched to investigate the problem with the catenary, an arrangement of poles and overhead wires that delivers power from substations to the trains.
According to Manconi, Rideau Transit Maintenance confirmed it had the needed parts, and when repaired “satisfactorily,” light rail service would resume across the whole Confederation Line. As of 8:30 p.m., that hadn’t happened.
Shortly before 8 p.m., OC Transpo shared news of a stopped train at uOttawa station. All service was shifted to the station’s eastbound platforms.
“I have to say that I am embarrassed for the failure of the Ottawa LRT system that should never have been launched without a full winter condition assessment,” tweeted Somerset Ward Coun. Catherine McKenney. Citizen transit commissioner Sarah Wright-Gilbert tweeted her belief that “RTM is not up to the job and we need to find a company that is.”
There was no response Wednesday evening to requests for interviews with city transit officials, RTM and transit commission chair Allan Hubley.
This isn’t the first time a problem with the catenary system has caused commuter chaos. In mid-January, an overhead wire broke, stalling a train at St. Laurent Station and cutting off lightrail service east of Hurdman Station.
At the time, Transpo’s director of customer services and planning, Pat Scrimgeour, said the transit system carries between 18,000 and 20,000 customers to east-end destinations in the afternoon.