City of Ottawa anticipating system-wide test of Confederation Line by end of week

Ottawa residents may notice more light rail activity across the city's entire system this week — trains stopping at stations, making announcements and simulating regular service operations — as Rideau Transit Group (RTG) ensures everything is working the way it should.

It's all with the hope of returning partial service for local transit users as soon as possible.

As of Tuesday, November 2, 11 trains (22 single cars) have been inspected, with nine trains (18 single cars) tested to under the oversight of Transportation Research Associates (TRA). 

The City of Ottawa explains, the entire rail fleet continues to progress through a detailed safety certification process, and the track and related infrastructure repairs are undergoing final validation and assessments required to enable a return to revenue service.

As trains pass the inspection process, they are being operated on the tracks to verify all train system functionality prior to a final system-wide test. 

The city anticipates that before the end of the week, a full system-wide test of Confederation Line 1 will take place over two days prior to returning to revenue service. 

The return-to-service day is contingent upon RTG providing a couple of things to the satisfaction of TRA and the city:

• A robust and fulsome quality assurance program
• Updates to their maintenance programs and processes, to ensure that the root causes of the recent derailments are fully addressed

The city hopes to hold a technical briefing with TRA before the end of the week, which is a city council requirement prior to the resumption of service.

The plan remains to resume a partial return to service with seven trains and two spares in the first two weeks of November, and to incrementally expand service throughout the month of November.