How will riders get on board when LRT builders can't agree on what went wrong?
Commercial interests should remain 'at their table,' says Reneé Amilcar
Train-maker Alstom and the Rideau Transit Group trotted out a new list of possible solutions this week to issues haunting the light rail transit system — what should have been a beam of hope for transit riders frustrated with shortened cars and slower and less frequent service.
Bringing the LRT's contractors together was dubbed by OC Transpo chief Reneé Amilcar as "a giant leap for the City of Ottawa," and a chance to show how well they're co-operating to fix the problems.
Instead, it exposed just how far apart they remain.
"Certainly there are commercial interests at play between … RTG and Alstom. These interests are — and should remain — at their table. Not ours," Amilcar said in her introduction.
"I have advised them that the City of Ottawa is interested only in the permanent technical solution to this issue, and not commercial debates that may arise with them."
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Dysfunction within the public-private partnership was a focal point of last year's public inquiry, which included much talk about the failures in communication and transparency.
That cast a pall over Thursday's meeting and overshadowed a declaration from Alstom that it's discovered the root cause of bearing issues.
It's a situation that has some councillors questioning how OC Transpo can hope to regain public confidence without first getting its contractors on the same page.
Alstom declares root cause, RTG not yet convinced
More than two years after a wheel fell off a light-rail car on its way back to the maintenance garage, bearing issues continue to plague the transit system.
But at least one of its builders says it now knows the incident's root cause.
"The train is feeling unexpected, high lateral load," Alstom's David Van der Wee told reporters.
He explained that the rail is exerting a greater force against the wheel than they were designed to handle.
The pronouncement sounds more like a physics lesson than a eureka moment — made even less impressive by the fact that RTG isn't ready to agree.
"We may get to an agreement with Alstom on their theory, but we're not quite ready to go there yet," explained the consortium's CEO Nicolas Truchon. "We still have evidence that we need to review."
It's a debate that is far from new.
The final report for last year's public inquiry that said Alstom's preliminary findings suggested some fault with the system's track infrastructure was rejected by its builder, RTG.
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Signing on to this latest report would mean signing up for potentially costly and disruptive upgrades.
They include switching to harder rail around the system's tricky curves and building a retaining wall near Hurdman station to keep the ballast — the rocky base that keeps track from distorting — in place.
Despite frequent mentions of co-operation and "what we can agree on," the more subtle comments reveal the remaining distance between RTG and its subcontractor.
Van der Wee noted Alstom's report — which councillors and the public have not been permitted to see — is 1,000 pages and informed by its collective corporate expertise.
Careful listeners would note Truchon clarifying that the document's page count includes an assortment of previously released reports, and stating more than once that RTG is also relying on outside experts providing "the independent perspective."
Then there's the recurring debate that's become a frequent topic of discussion among Ottawa's transit users: Does the fault for issues lie with the train or the tracks?
"Everybody sees the track. You can get any expert to come in. You can walk the track over three days. You'll get a good report and everybody's going to have an opinion about the track," Truchon emphasized.
"The track is no better, no worse than the standard track in North America. That's the advice we're getting. Can it be improved? Of course it can be improved. Any track can be improved."
Alstom's defences also seemed to be up.
"The design of the system was fully known and understood by Alstom when [designing the specifications of] the vehicle," said Van der Wee.
"I want to be clear … the vehicle is suitable for the system."
From those statements, and the reports, Amilcar made a clearer assertion: We need to work on the track and on the vehicle.
Money complicates issue
Given the cost of the LRT Stage 1 contract — $2.1 billion for its construction and $4 to $5 million for monthly maintenance costs — and the project's legal history, it's hardly surprising that contractors don't want to provide a mea culpa.
But it's also true that the system is extremely complicated.
While Truchon noted the transparency owed to the city, he cautioned against rushing to apply a potential fix that could create new and long-term problems.
Still, transit commissioners pushed for answers that were not readily available.
For River ward Coun. Riley Brockington, that meant demanding an assurance that "the containment strategy, the mitigation strategy, the root cause analysis and the ultimate sustainable solution" would not be financed by taxpayers.
Amilcar answers the question not once, but twice: first, by saying RTG would pay it all and then clarifying that the city bears some of the bills for outside consultant TRA.
When pressed, Truchon was more coy, simply saying "I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment at this time."
Commuters still waiting for an answer
Though short of a final answer, councillors did get to hear many detailed, technical responses, resulting in a mix of satisfaction and desire for more.
"I'm comfortable after this meeting that they understand the dynamics that are at play," said Kitchisippi ward Coun. Jeff Leiper.
But while that might be enough to get train service back to an acceptable limit, Leiper isn't fully satisfied.
He said cities across the country will want a better explanation of what's gone wrong with the system, especially given Ottawa is committed to further expanding it.
"The fact that it happened at all is still unexplained. And the disruption to Ottawa residents has been so extreme, with a derailment and multiple long-term outages of the system, that they're owed that answer," he said.
"I don't think that either I or many of my colleagues are going to let that rest."
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