Ninth train vehicle pulled for inspection

A ninth single-car LRT vehicle will be subject to “additional analysis” before returning to service, the city announced Wednesday, as the line's operator continued to investigate the cause of a derailment earlier this month that halted trains across the Confederation Line.

In a memo to council and the transit commission, transportation general manager John Manconi said Rideau Transit Group informed the City of Ottawa of its decision to further inspect the axle assembly of the vehicle Wednesday morning.

RTG, Manconi wrote, has begun “implementing the necessary repairs” to the nine cars, with work expected to continue throughout the week. Once inspections are completed, the trains will return to service.

The investigation into the “root cause” of the derailment is ongoing, Manconi said, and a “fulsome update” on the probe will be presented at the next transit commission meeting scheduled for Sept. 20.

“The number of trains cleared for service may continue to fluctuate as the inspections and root cause investigation process continue,” Manconi wrote.

“Again, all vehicles that are in service have passed the safety inspection process and will continue to be reinspected at regular intervals.”

According to the city, 37 of the 39 individual cars in the fleet have been inspected, with the only two remaining being the vehicle involved in the derailment and another already out of commission because of unrelated maintenance.

RTG started on Wednesday running nine double-car trains on the Confederation Line with one train held back in the yard due to what the company called an “error code indicator, unrelated to the ongoing wheel-axle inspections.” However, two additional trains were sent out throughout the day.

Maintenance crews have been inspecting the fleet of Alstom Citadis Spirit trains since one of them derailed on Aug. 8 because of a failure in an axle bearing unit.