Confederation Line rail likely to be down for days
All vehicles to be inspected after out-of-service train derails
Light-rail transit service on the Confederation Line is unlikely to resume before Friday, as all vehicles undergo an inspection to check for a fault thought to have caused an out-of-service train's axle to derail Sunday night.
A temporary service shutdown was initiated “out of an abundance of caution” after an operator “experienced an abnormal and rough ride” while departing from Tunney's Pasture, transportation services general manager John Manconi told the mayor and members of council in a morning memo.
Technicians quickly found one of the train's 10 axles had come off the track. No passengers were aboard the train, which was headed back to the OC Transpo garage.
Rideau Transit Maintenance immediately launched a root-cause investigation, according to Manconi, and in a Monday night update he said that information reviewed so far indicated “a fault within the axle bearing assembly is the primary cause of the axle leaving the rails.”
RTM “has developed and initiated a robust inspection process focused on the axle bearing assembly” that all light-rail vehicles will have to undergo before returning to service, Manconi said. This will take several hours per vehicle to complete, with one already cleared to start transporting passengers once again.
“Subject to continued validation of inspection procedures, we are targeting a return of rail service on Line 1 adequate to meet current ridership levels on Friday or Saturday of this week,” said Manconi.
OC Transpo is running replacement buses on the R1 line in the meantime.
The train had been idle at the station for “a period of time,” OC Transpo director of transit operations Troy Charter said Monday, “and as we were removing it from service, the operator started driving eastbound, and a couple hundred metres from the station he began to feel that bumpy ride.”
He immediately stopped the train and reported it, Charter said.
“We brought in our technicians to do the assessment, and that's when they determined that one axle (with two wheels) was off the track.”
Work begins Tuesday to return the stopped train to the maintenance and storage facility at Belfast Yard, and could take up to two days to finish, said Manconi. The entire vehicle, track and “related infrastructure” will be inspected. While the train is still partially on the track, inspectors are limited in what they can do.
“We need to get the train back to the (maintenance facility) and get it up on the jacks,” Charter said.
Manconi promised updates as they become available on the status of inspections and resumption of rail service.
R1 bus service will operate with frequent trips to provide space to allow customers to follow physical distancing measures. OC Transpo staff are monitoring ridership, said Manconi, and will adjust service as needed.
OC Transpo is sending details through customer alerts, social media updates, signage at Line 1 stations, and online at octranspo. com.
Staff will also be located at Line 1 stations during peak periods.
The incident was reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, and the agency deployed a team of investigators to Tunney's Pasture to gather information and “assess the occurrence,” the TSB said in a statement Monday.
“The scope of the TSB's role is still being determined,” said Manconi, who noted that the city, RTM and their contractors are all co-operating with the board's review.
It is the second TSB investigation of the light-rail system in a little more than a year. In July 2020, the safety agency was called in to examine an issue with cracked wheels on the Alstom Citadis Spirit electric locomotives.
The TSB has not released its final report on the issue, but an interim November 2020 “Rail Safety Advisory Letter” warned that some cracks in wheel hubs may go undetected and the problem “may be more widespread than initially thought.”
The TSB recommended the manufacturer replace the suspect wheels, which were originally designed to last for 330,000 kilometres of use.
OC Transpo's bad day got worse in the afternoon when a double-decker bus left the road and ended up in a ditch along Carling Avenue.
No one was hurt and police said the passengers were able to safely exit the immobilized bus.
Police were called to the scene near the intersection of Herzberg Road at 3:18 p.m. No cause has yet been determined.
The single-vehicle collision was considered a minor one, police said, and did not disrupt traffic.
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We need to get the train back to the (maintenance facility) and get it up on the jacks.