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The Trillium Line LRT has passed its final exam, but that doesn’t mean testing has finished on Ottawa’s newest LRT line.
Operators have been putting trains through their paces this week with various simulations designed to mimic some of the issues they may have to confront when the trains start carrying passengers for real.
For example, operators had to deal with a “soiled” train that had to be taken out of service for cleaning and quickly replaced with a clean train from the maintenance shed. In another exercise, operators simulated a broken rail that forced the system to switch to single-track service between Carleton and South Keys stations.
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In one exercise Wednesday, operators simulated a train stalled on the southbound track at South Keys Station, while in another they had to activate the emergency ventilation system in the Dow’s Lake Tunnel, something they would have to do for real if there was a report of smoke in the tunnel.
OC Transpo announced Monday that the builder, TransitNEXT, had successfully completed the 14-day trial run of the trains, achieving a 99.5-per-cent reliability rating in a rolling average over those two weeks. This new round of testing will continue for a minimum of seven days, but will not affect TransitNEXT’s passing grade.
Passenger service on the Trillium Line could begin as early as mid-November.
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