Target opening of OC Transpo Trillium Line set for mid-November

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Passengers could be riding the Trillium Line train as early as mid Novemeber if testing goes well on the long-delayed LRT extension.

Transit general manager Renée Amilcar announced the anticipated start date at a briefing Thursday at City Hall.

During the testing period, the trains will operate for 14 days with full simulated passenger service, and they must maintain a 98.5 per cent on-time performance. That means stopping at each station for no more than three minutes and departing within 30 seconds of the scheduled time. The 98.5 per cent target will be calculated from a rolling average over the 14-day testing period.

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Director of Rail Construction Richard Holder said Thursday that the train has achieved 99.12 per cent on-time performance over the past 10 days.

That 14-day trial run will be followed by another seven days of testing that won’t count toward the train’s pass/fail outcome, but will allow operators to see how the system reacts to problems like immobilized trains or jammed doors.

If the trial run goes flawlessly, the earliest it could conclude is on Oct. 29. After that the line will need a minimum of three weeks to receive final certification and approvals to begin carrying passengers, Holder said.

The Trillium Line, which runs south from Bayview Station to Limebank Road with a spur to Ottawa airport is more than two years behind schedule. The old line, which ended at South Keys, was shutdown in the spring of 2020.

More to come…

A route map of the Stage 2 expansions to both the Trillium and Confederation lines of the O-Train.
A route map of the Stage 2 expansions to both the Trillium and Confederation lines of the O-Train. ott

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