Ottawa LRT ‘construction and testing effectively complete:’ Rideau Transit Group

The Rideau Transit Group says Ottawa's Confederation Line light rail transit system is ready to be inspected and put through its final test.

RTG issued a Substantive Completion Notice, Monday, which means the project has reached a point where it believes construction and testing is effectively complete. The group said that includes all fixed components and vehicles.

The city now has five days to provide an independent certifier its opinion as to whether the conditions of the Substantial Completion have been met. The independent certifier will then have five days to determine whether it thinks RTG has satisfied the conditions of the notice. 

Should the independent certifier conclude that conditions for Substantial Completion have been met, RTG will begin the system's 12-day trial run, or what City of Ottawa General Manager of Transportation has called its “final exam.” 

The trial run includes 12 consecutive days of regularly scheduled service to confirm the LRT's readiness for passenger service by exercising the Confederation Line system at full functionality. 

The city lists critical elements as:

• Safety of the system;
• Operations of the system, including end-to-end travel times and intervals between trains during different operation scenarios (peak and off-peak periods);
• Maintenance activities;
• Vehicle performance;
• Customer systems (public address systems, escalators, elevators, etc.); and,
• Other systems (CCTV, Tunnel Ventilations Systems, etc.).

Once the system has completed its trail run successfully, it can be fully turned over to the city, which will then need up to four weeks to conduct final preparations for our launch of the system to the public. That includes time to conduct operational training, drills and exercises, bus/rail planning and service changes. The Ready for Rail campaign will also be enhanced to ensure a safe and reliable transition for users.