City of Ottawa officials say they’re cautiously optimistic following the first several days of test runs on the long-delayed Trillium Line.
The north-south rail line has now met its performance targets three days in a row, according to data shared Friday in a memo to city council.
Trains departed from their stops on-time 100 per cent of the time during tests on Wednesday and Thursday, the memo said.
But it will be another 10 days at least before the line can hit its final target: a 14-day rolling average where 98.5 per cent of the trains depart on time.
Even if testing goes smoothly, a major issue on the 14th day could mean starting over again.
Brake issues ‘won’t reoccur’
There were a few roadblocks on the first and second days of testing, but they seemed to have been one-off issues and are now resolve, said Richard Holder, the city’s director of engineering services.
“We’re still looking at the CCTV issues to be fully confident that they won’t occur again over the next few days,” he said at a press briefing Friday. “What we can say is they have not been repeated.”
As for concerns about brake issues on the first day of testing, the city is now “satisfied that they won’t reoccur,” Holder said.
“We have done our job to get to the trial running,” said transit services general manager Renée Amilcar. “It’s important to stay focused because we still have days to perform.”
Will need Transport Canada approval
Once the Trillium Line does pass this testing stage, it will undergo another seven days of testing to see how it handles service disruptions and maintenance issues.
If everything goes smoothly, the trial running could wrap up on Oct. 29, though that won’t the day the line opens to passengers.
OC Transpo must still get regulatory approval from Transport Canada to operate the Trillium Line, plus a certificate of fitness from the Canadian Transportation Agency. The system would then enter what OC Transpo calls a “final readiness phase” that will take a minimum of three weeks.
Testing will continue over the long weekend and updates will appear on the OC Transpo website. The next fulsome update to council is expected to occur on Monday.