OC Transpo may consider shutting down LRT service ahead of future freezing rain events

Part of the O-Train Line 1 remains offline, and OC Transpo says one way to handle future freezing rain may be to halt service. CTV’s Kimberley Fowler reports.

The eastern leg of the O-Train Line 1 remains out of service due to issues believed to be linked to Wednesday’s freezing rain, and OC Transpo says it needs to consider new ways to deal with severe weather, including stopping service ahead of future freezing rain events.

On Wednesday, a portion of the O-Train from uOttawa to Blair stations was shut down due to an issue with the overhead system at Lees station. Early Friday morning, two similar issues were spotted at Blair and Tremblay stations. OC Transpo said the issued are believed to have been caused by this week’s freezing rain.

At a media availability on Friday afternoon, OC Transpo interim general manager Troy Charter said the service will need to find “more efficient ways” to deal with freezing rain events in the future.

“Whenever we have these type of events, we need to do a debrief after to look at where we need to adjust,” Charter said.

One option the transit agency may need to consider, Charter said, would be shutting down the service in advance of freezing rain events.

“If we need to make adjustments, not only to how we mitigate it, but whether or not we continue to operate, that’s something we need to consider,” he said.

“Shutting down the service is not something we take lightly, but if it means we avoid these types of situations where we’re down for extended periods of time, that’s something we need to consider.”

Speaking with CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, Coun. Riley Brockington said it would be “absolutely ridiculous” to accept shutting down service as a solution to weather-related issues.

“We know exactly what Ottawa’s weather is like. Other municipalities in northern climates operate outdoor transit systems that use a canary system. What is so different in Ottawa that’s causing these issues to happen repeatedly?” Brockington said.

“What do all the other jurisdictions do to make sure their systems continue to run in cold weather, with snow and ice and freezing rain, just like Ottawa gets? We ultimately have to find that. That is the solution. We cannot close down the transit system when the weather gets bad.”

Coun. Marty Carr said it’s too early to start proposing solutions as the cause of the issues hasn’t been fully determined yet, but Carr says it’s time to start asking questions.

“We had the issue two days ago during the ice, then the two issues this morning, right? I mean it probably is time to start asking those questions,” Carr told CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron on Friday.

One of the measures OC Transpo takes to prevent ice accumulation during freezing rain has been to run trains frequently, Charter said.

“Obviously, that’s challenged in certain type of events, so we need to look other ways in which we can recover from a freezing rain event. It’s one thing to temporarily halt service during an event, but we need to be able to recover quickly,” he said.

Charter says another option could be heat trace, which could prevent ice from forming on cables more effectively, but would be expensive to implement.

Charter says OC Transpo is working to restore full service as quickly and safely as possible, but there is no timeline for when full service will resume.

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