LRT inquiry sheds more light into decision to launch system

The latest testimony heard at the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry into the city's light rail transit (LRT) system is shedding more light behind the scenes of the project, including the decision to launch. 

It was revealed that the City willingly accepted the LRT system and launched it knowing it was unreliable and moved posts for the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) to pass the final testing of the Confederation Line. 

City of Ottawa engineer and rail manager Richard Holder said when the City accepted the system, there were outstanding issues with all the trains and some were more than just minor problems, adding the municipality made a calculation it would be able to fix the problems once passengers started to ride the LRT system. 

“The system continued to display issues that affected its reliability following substantial completion, is that right,” commission co-lead counsel Kate McGrann asked Holder. 

Holder replied by saying “that's correct.”

Public hearings will be held at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, in the Ian G. Scott Courtroom until July 8.

The inquiry, led by Justice William Hourigan, is mandated to investigate circumstances that led to Stage 1 breakdowns and derailments. It will look at the decisions and actions in the procurement approach the City of Ottawa took for Stage 1, the decision to select the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) to build the system and awarding the contract.