WOE TRAIN

Report says train came off the rails as it reached Tremblay Station

The Ottawa LRT train that derailed on Sunday left the tracks as it pulled into Tremblay Station and crossed a rail bridge before finally stopping after sensing an emergency, according to the preliminary assessment by a federal agency.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) on Tuesday provided more details about the westbound train that derailed in the area of Tremblay Station, confirming that the train derailed as it entered the station.

“The train then departed the station in the derailed condition and continued over the rail bridge that traversed Riverside Drive before striking a signal mast and switch heater” adjacent to the track, the TSB said in a statement.

“Subsequently, the train went into emergency and came to a stop just west of the rail bridge.”

The TSB hasn't announced a full investigation, but a team of investigators is assessing the derailment.

None of the 12 passengers and one operator onboard was hurt when the derailment happened around 12:15 p.m.

The TSB hasn't pinpointed the cause, but the preliminary unconfirmed findings, according to city transportation GM John Manconi this week, suggested that a device under the train that sands the tracks in the winter might have disconnected from the train.

It was the second Ottawa LRT derailment since the beginning of August.

There were also no injuries when an out-of-service train jumped the rails near Tunney's Pasture Station on Aug. 8. One of the 10 axles on a single car of the double-car train left the rails, prompting maintenance workers to check axle bearing assemblies on the fleet and identifying 10 cars for repairs. The LRT line closed for five days.

The city doesn't believe the reasons for the two derailments are related and Manconi said no one could have predicted before the launch of the LRT system that a sander bracket or a sealed axle assembly would cause a derailment.

Mayor Jim Watson has asked for a meeting with senior executives at the Rideau Transit Group (RTG). His press secretary, Patrick Champagne, said the meeting is being scheduled for the coming week.

It's the latest act in Ottawa's Confederation Line drama, with the $2.1-billion LRT line facing a three-week closure, councillors pointing fingers at each other and the most senior transit bureaucrat on the cusp of leaving the municipal government. Manconi is scheduled to retire at the end of September.

At a lengthy transit commission meeting on Monday, as councillors and citizen commissioners expressed frustration over another LRT problem, Coun. Shawn Menard asked Coun. Allan Hubley to resign as commission chair. Hubley replied, “You're going a little too far here,” and said that transit leaders have kept commission members in the loop, before playing down a transit rally previously held at city hall. Hubley refused to step down.

Meanwhile, transit customers normally used to LRT service for their daily transportation needs are being directed to the R1 replacement bus service with no clear timeline on when the LRT system will be working again.

The only ones benefiting from Ottawa's LRT woes might be lawyers and rail consultants.

Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM), the RTG arm responsible for maintenance of the LRT system for 30 years, is swallowing more consultant costs on top of likely not receiving city maintenance payments for August and September.

There's an end-to-end assessment happening on the LRT system by a consultant, but the findings aren't expected to be made public because they're part of legal wrangling between the city and RTG. The city's independent rail safety regulator is also hiring a second set of eyes to review the contractor's return-to-service plan.

On top of that, Manconi says there's yet another set of consultants he's hiring for a “comprehensive review” of the LRT system and that bill, too, will be sent to RTM.

Over the short life of the LRT system — it opened to the public on Sept. 14, 2019 — the city has been engaged in multiple “root cause” investigations for various problems.

The TSB has an active investigation into wheel cracks on train wheels as it continues to assess the two recent derailments.