Issues with train brakes, CCTV cameras identified in first day of Trillium Line trial testing

Ottawa's Trillium Line LRT (File)

OC Transpo officials are satisfied with the start of a critical testing period required before opening Ottawa's new north-south line, despite some technical issues being identified on some trains on Monday.

The first daily update provided by OC Transpo officials for the initial 14-day reliability testing period says the Oct. 7 trial period had trains leaving on schedule 98.3 per cent of the time, just under the rolling average of 98.5 per cent that OC Transpo and TransitNEXT will have to achieve in the next two weeks before moving into the next phase of testing.

Richard Holder, OC Transpo's director of rail construction, said at a media availability on Monday that one train had an issue with a braking system in the morning that caused a delay for testing to begin.

“It took some time for a technician to provide a release for that brake before it could be launched,” Holder said.

Another issue was identified on two trains, where CCTV cameras on the side of the vehicles were not functioning properly.

"The images on the side of the vehicle were not showing up within the cab, so a technician needed to come," Holder said.

Holder says the CCTV cameras are used by operators to observe customers entering and exiting the train. Both issues were identified on the Line 2 tracks, which runs between Bayview and Limebank stations. Officials did not rule out whether the issue could occur again in the future.

"The issue that occurred was certainly not something we were expecting,” Holder said of the braking issue.

“It only occurred on two trains not on the whole fleet. In terms of the root cause of that issue, we still need to work with the TransitNEXT team and the vehicle supplier to identify what went wrong.”

Despite the issues, officials felt confident the first day of testing was a "very strong start" and will be working with TransitNEXT to find what improvements can be made.

"I'm very happy, 98.3 per cent is a very good grade for the first day," said Renee Amilcar, OC Transpo's general manager of transit services, in French.

The 21-day trial running period required before trains run with passengers includes a 14-day reliability testing period that began on Monday. The testing simulates the conditions of normal passenger service, followed by a seven-day second phase that looks at daily operational and maintenance scenario evaluations.

OC Transpo says on-time performance are measured by assessing on-time departures at terminus stations for both Lines 2 and 4.The daily performance is a measure of on-time departures divided by the number of planned departures.

Officials have said that if an on-time performance of 78 per cent of less is recorded on a single day during the trial running period, additional testing days will be automatically added to the trial running.

"As this is the first day of trial running, there are still sufficient days left to increase the rolling average to 98.5 per cent," Holder said.

Councillors and the public will receive a daily performance report on the trial running Monday through Friday. The summary will include daily performance, the 14-day rolling average, and any issues identified through the 14-day trial running period.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle