PANDEMIC GAVE LRT MUCH-NEEDED OPPORTUNITY TO WORK OUT KINKS
The pandemic was possibly the best thing to happen to Ottawa’s light-rail system in the inaugural year. It offered the broken and bullied the luxury of being ignored.
The entire city, overnight, had nowhere to go. Up to 85 per cent of regular commuters stayed home, for weeks and months, and worried about heavier stuff than a missing strap and a stinky station.
In a heartbeat, we went from wheel (square/cracked) to real (life): the job, the rent, the kids, the school, the home office, the kids in the home office, the isolated, older parents, the daily scaries from round the world.
Seven trains, 11 trains, no trains? Since mid-March, did anyone really care?
The long break from regular service bought time for the city, Rideau Transit Group and its maintenance arm to call a truce — remember March’s whopper notice of default? — and get it together, take a breather. Winter was over, service was reduced, new trains from Phase 2 were coming along, and new managers were in charge.
In its first full year of operation, imagine, LRT had a fivemonth holiday during which it was hardly breaking a sweat. So, come September-ish, it should be running like a Swiss watch, though our expectations are fragile.
Looking back to the start, it is shocking how far we fell.
On that first media tour on Aug. 23, on that first weekend of service (Sept. 14/15), it all seemed so glorious.
The trains were gleaming, the underground stations were a revelation, the ride was smooth and the impression was unmistakable: Ottawa was finally growing up, a million-plus capital that shook its hick and found its click.
Really, when was the last time the graspers at city hall actually did something to make you feel palpable pride about a municipal achievement? Councillors were giddy, like a Christmas kid with his first train set. OC general manager John Manconi, in a moment rarely captured in the wild, was seen smiling.
Even the rumoured shortcuts in the 12 days of perfect testing were glossed over. What did it matter? The thing worked like a charm.
Well. It all crashed hard, didn’t it, and fairly quickly?
Trains began to stall, software began to snag, wires would break, doors would not close, safety cameras did not work and, when trouble arose and commuters stacked up, platforms seemed too small and ill-suited to bad weather.
Switches too cold today, inductors too dirty yesterday, track too hot tomorrow, wheels that were cracked or not entirely round, all on a system brand new.
Get rid of buses? We grew buses, as nothing illustrated the fragility of the system better than a hastily-assembled fleet of standby replacement vehicles, warm and ready for the next disaster.
We paid a colossal amount of money, hired industry experts, ripped the city apart and this is what we got? Eventually, it was to laugh, September’s pride become New Year’s mockery.
So where does that leave us, one year on?
In a better place than six months ago, actually, as, realistically, can it get any worse?
Just in August, RTG delivered to the city for the first time 17 working double trains and the next 19 pair (for Phase 2) are well underway, our Jon Willing reports. So we will have backup power.
We know the volume reboot in September will be gradual, as kids return to school — but not all at once — and the workforce will only come back in stages. So OC and LRT can avoid a deluge, adjust to capacity changes.
There are new people in charge, at both RTG and Rideau Transit Maintenance. Say what you will, it sometimes helps to change coaches at the All-Star break, get a fresh set of eyes in there, because — as they say — you can’t fire the players or throw out all the trains.
(It is possibly telling, too, that the job Peter Lauch was performing by himself has now been split in two. Had that been a problem all along?)
And, please God make it so, RTG/M must be gaining valuable experience in running a train system — this system in particular — with this model of Alstom Citadis Spirit, a first in North America.
We’ve had the first winter; surely we are not going to repeat the same errors with lousy switch heaters and slippery steps and what-have-you.
As a city, we are married to this consortium for the next 30 years, the bed we made. One day — dire predictions of collapsed downtowns aside — we are going to need a fully reliable system, Stage 1, 2 and 3.
There is no other way, realistically, than to grind it out, till the burry path is smooth.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-291-6265 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/ kellyegancolumn
We’ve had the first winter; surely we are not going to repeat the same errors ...