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Inspectors have found more problems with the tunnel at the aging St-Laurent LRT Station, bringing service down to only one platform at the east end station, the city said in a memo Tuesday morning.
As part of an ongoing inspection, an “area of concern” was found on the south side of the tunnel, closing that half of the station to trains and passengers. “As a result, Line 1 will continue to operate on one track out of an abundance of caution,” the memo from transit services manager Renée Amilcar said.
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Trains are only running every 15 minutes between Blair and St-Laurent stations in the east end. To compensate, the city has deployed R1 replacement bus service between Blair and St-Laurent, in addition to the E1 express buses running from Blair to downtown.
Service is only operating on the westbound platform at St-Laurent, and transit riders need to change trains at the station to continue their trip, the city said.
Between Tunney’s Pasture and St-Laurent, trains were running every five to six minutes.
The city expects to have a timeline for when Line 1 will be back running normally later Monday.
It’s not the first time the St-Laurent station has caused problems for the line. Earlier this year, the station was closed for five days when heavy corrosion was discovered in the station’s hanging ceiling tiles and the structure that supported them. Concrete along parts of the ceiling needed to be reinforced with wire mesh to protect transit riders below. Water infiltration into the station’s concrete was blamed for the issue.
The tunnel was built in the 1980s for the bus Transitway and was repurposed for the LRT. Unlike the downtown stretch of tunnel which is operated and maintained by the private consortium Rideau Transit Group, the St-Laurent Station is maintained by the city.
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