Once again Ottawa’s LRT train became International news after it derailed through Tremblay Station and into Capital Ward. This was shortly after another train had derailed just six weeks prior because of a broken axle and nine other trains were removed for inspections. The train that derailed last week was one of those nine that had just been inspected.
We hear so many excuses, and finger pointing from the mayor and his team, but the simple fact is that “Bad Management” is the underlying course of a long history of problems for our new rail system, procured as a public-private-partnership—from door problems to wheels to systems that had trouble working during the winter cold, the summer heat or when there’s dirt and debris.
Mayor Watson Take Another Photo Op
With the Ottawa LRT problems now reaching a near daily occurrence, social media is on fire with opinion, rage and sarcasm, Mayor Watson will never admit the major deficiencies from basic design faults, to a management team with zero experience in managing an LRT, even simple, non-technical aspects have been screwed up, Slippery tiles at some Ottawa LRT stations aren’t just a poor architectural choice: they’re also symbolic of a flawed process, according to Safety Consultant Dr. Bill Pomfret of Safety Projects International Inc. “The Rideau Transit Group has this maintenance contract for the next 30 years. If we want to change anything it’s going to be at our cost. and that’s part of the problem.” All these problems, and exorbitant costs should be remembered for the next election. although he City has a legal department we must still spend millions of $ fighting claims using outside law firms.
In my opinion the concept was doomed from the beginning by the “double track” design. No opportunity for express trains to pass the milk run. Every train stops everywhere. The new strategy of adding more busses at LRT stations, adds to the frustration and confusion of tax payers and confusion of tax payers
Rail is a sensible, necessary, an intelligent and Green idea especially for a capital ity, but there are critical factors that if not accounted for, then you get what we have: Execution failure. It’s really a shame, we had an opportunity to have a superior product and service and a few corners were cut that will ultimately result in a system that is prematurely obsolete.
These trains should have been 1000’ long at rollout to handle immediate rush hour volume. From the day the train set models were rolled out, it seemed destined for failure. Just wait until the next real snowfall. really? A train with no plow? This isn’t Florida.”
Since the initial guesses at the problem by city officials, the Transportation Safety Board took over the current investigation and found that the train actually traveled quite a distance—including through a station—while partially derailed. We’re incredibly lucky that no one was hurt.
Investigations and revelations continue. We now know that, as a cost-saving measure, heat sensors were not implemented on our train cars. This led to wheels overheating and melting partially, without a warning to the driver as to the degree of the problem of the train.
The city is now looking to bring in an independent expert to conduct a safety review, after their original choice for this work was a company that participated in the LRT stage one project.
Through all of this, the Mayor has not been forthcoming with information. Even Councillors are informed by local reporters, rather than city staff. Calls for public hearings are shut down by the mayor and city management. There is no transparency and no accountability.
A city safety review isn’t enough. Councillor Catherine McKenney’s motion for a judicial inquiry into the LRT and how it relates to good municipal governance.
Dr Bill Pomfret; MSc; FIOSH; RSP. FRSH;
Founder & President.
Safety Projects International Inc, &
Dr. Bill Pomfret & Associates.
26 Drysdale Street, Kanata, Ontario.K2K 3L3.
www.spi5star.com pomfretb@spi5star.com
Tel 613-2549233