LRT Line 1 shut down, replacement bus service launched after issue found with bearing

The decision to suspend Line 1 LRT service during rush hour Monday afternoon was made because excess grease was detected on a train axle during routine maintenance, Renée Amilcar, the general manager of the city’s transit services department, told reporters Tuesday.

“Every vehicle was removed from the line and Alstom is investigating everything out of an abundance of caution,” Amilcar said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, five trains had been inspected with no problems found.

“I want you to know that every single axle we carry will be carefully inspected and will not return to service. We will not return to service until I am convinced it is safe for our customers and our staff,” Amilcar said.

OC Transpo’s statement on the shutdown Monday, announcing replacement bus service, indicated only that the shutdown had been deemed necessary after a serious issue was discovered with a bearing on one of the light rail vehicles.

“It was determined that the bearing play was over the threshold at which it could remain in operation,” the city said.

It is unclear how long it will take to determine the cause of the problem with the city’s trouble-plagued LRT system. A raft of tests are underway on the rails and the entire fleet of train cars, but Amilcar could not predict when the system would be back in service. There is to be another update Wednesday.

Until further notice, R1 bus service will be operating from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Station from 5 a.m. until 1 a.m. daily. On Tuesday, 28 buses were in operation.

So far, a track inspection has been completed for the full length of the track, with no issues found.

Late Tuesday, a rail inspection was taking place to take measurements of key rail infrastructure, such as the distance between rails.

Ottawa residents will see a train on the track in the daytime, said Richard Holder, the city’s director of engineering services. This train is not taking passengers, but is equipped with instruments to measure the forces and loads on the wheel hub assembly in “real-life” situations in an effort to find to root cause. Data from the “bogey” testing will be analyzed before trains are returned to service.

Part of the testing will be looking at different loading scenarios, such as those experienced with high volumes during Bluesfest in recent weeks.

“The team is working around the clock to expedite this work, and we will assess progress day by day,” Holder said.

The routine 50,000-kilometre check includes a visual inspection of the underbody of the vehicle. The grease was noticed as part of that inspection, which triggered further investigation, he said.

“We physically need to lift the train up on jacks and make an assessment of any looseness within the bearing itself to check for wear and tear within the axel hub,” Holder said.

“And it was during that detailed inspection that we discovered that the limits of that looseness has been exceeded.”

It had been eight days since that particular train had been inspected, Amilcar said.

Serving 13 stations, the $2.1-billion Confederation Line has had a long series of breakdowns since its launch four years ago.

Alstom, the manufacturer of Ottawa’s specially designed Citadis Spirit trains, has built trains for LRT systems in Istanbul and Paris that have operated reliably, according to the Transportation Safety Board, the independent federal agency that investigates accidents and makes safety recommendations.

But Ottawa has demanded more of its trains, wanting a higher speed and putting in more frequent stops than typically found on a light rail line. Engineers have been studying the system to determine the cause for two derailments in 2021 and a “near-catastrophic” failure of a cartridge assembly in July 2022, according to the TSB.

Trains were pulled from service to be checked last July after an alert LRT operator reported an “unusual vibration.” It was of three cases of cartridge assembly failures on the Ottawa LRT line being investigated by the TSB.

The LRT operator’s warning averted a possible derailment on the Confederation Line due to an axle hub that was on the verge of “catastrophic failure,” the TSB said in an advisory letter to the city, released in February. Parts on Ottawa’s trains have been wearing out early and “well below industry standards for cartridge assemblies.”

The July 2022 incident, along with the Aug. 8, 2021, derailment near Tunney’s Pasture Station and a Sept. 19, 2021, derailment near Tremblay Station involved failures of the cartridge assembly connecting the train’s wheels and axle to the drive train, according to the TSB.

On Tuesday, Amilcar said she felt the team was “very close to getting to that root cause,” which was why they must continue to run the instrumented “bogey” tests. But she added that it was hard to say how long it would take before a permanent solution was rolled out.

Amilcar said she understood the frustration of transit users, but halting the entire system was the right thing to do.

“Safety is the top priority. I will be the first person on the train as soon as it resumes service. If the train is not safe, we will not run it.”

Asked if any compensation would be offered to transit users, Amilcar said restarting the service was her first goal.

“And after that we can discuss internally to see if we can do something.” she said. “But you know the service is provided. It’s not by the train, but we are using the buses and we will continue to improve the service and we will continue to work on the root cause analysis to make sure that we can bring back the trains on service as soon as possible.”