Full LRT service resumes for first time since Wednesday morning shutdown

Full service on Ottawa's LRTLine 1 resumed Thursday evening for the first time since the system shut down Wednesday morning.

Service along the entire length of the Confederation Lineresumedshortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, OC Transpo said in a tweet.

The section of trackbetween uOttawa and Tremblay stations was the last to open. Service to the rest of the track, from Tremblayto Blairand from Tunney's Pasture to uOttawa, wasrestored as of about 3 p.m., according to a memo to council fromgeneral manager of transit servicesRene Amilcar.

R1 bus service, which had beenoperating between St-Laurent and Rideau stations, ended Thursday evening.

Five trains on the Confederation Line came to a stop Wednesday morning.One stopped just east of Tunney's Pasture station, one stopped as it came into Rideau station, two stopped between Lees and Hurdman stations and one stopped just eastof Tremblay station.

The decision was then made to shut down the entire system to prevent further damage to the infrastructure.

The memo said Rideau Transit Maintenance crews had removed ice buildup from the overhead wires, inspected and removed stopped trains from the lines and re-energized the system.

"Between Lees and Hurdman stations, RTM will inspect the overhead wires and will then recover the trains stopped on the line before restoring the remaining service," the memo said.

Timeline of problems

The first OC Transpo alert about a stopped train came at about8:50 a.m. on Wednesday By 9:45 a.m., LRThadbeen shut down and replacement bus servicewas announced.

To reach stranded passengers on one stopped train between Lees and Hurdman stations, emergency respondershad to cut a fenceand escort passengers back to safety.

"We were stuck for more than 45 minutes," said Masood Sakhi, a daily OC Transpo rider who was going to work when his train stopped.

LRT passengers describe being helped off a stopped train by firefighters

1 year ago

Duration 0:35

Passengers were escorted off a stopped train near Lees station Wednesday morning. Multiple people told CBC they were stuck for more than 45 minutes.

Thestopped trainshappened amidfreezing rain across the region, and inspite of precautions that had been taken ahead of the storm to prevent ice from building up on the light-rail system's overhead wires, Amilcarwrote in aWednesday memo to city council.

Those precautions included running all trainscontinuously overnight with winter carbons on 10 of them.

One problem, Amilcar said in a media briefing later Wednesday, may be that the trains are too sensitive to power surges. More investigation is necessary, she said.

Richard Holder,an engineer and rail manager with the city, said that after freezing rain caused a shutdown of Line 1 in January, a working group was formed to look at what could be done to prevent future issues with freezing rain and ice events.

Mario Guerra, CEO for Rideau Transit Maintenance,said the hope is to have longer-term fixes in place by next winter.