How Do We Fix Ottawa’s Light Rail? BENN
The greatest fear a business person should have is not knowing what they don’t know.
As it relates to the city, what the members of city council don’t know about the long-term prospects of the LRT should be keeping them awake at night.
There are a multitude of problems contributing to the lack of reliability of the LRT. The frequency and length of shutdowns arising from normal winter conditions. The reported improper gauge of at least one section of rail. The too-tight corner near the Lees Station. The safety issues associated with the contents of the wheel axle bearings hub.
There are three questions for each of these challenges.
Can anything be done to permanently fix the problem? The answers lie in matters technical. Engineers (not the people at the front of the train) can provide the analyses.
How much will it cost? Again, a question best answered by engineers, with some help from a competent accountant. Is the cost worth the benefit is a derivative of the first two questions. It should be relatively simple arithmetic unless someone insists on trying to measure the immeasurable – the intangibles that are so subjective as to render the discussion worthless, except in academic and political settings.
If there is a technical solution, and the cost-benefit analysis supports taking tangible steps, who will pay? The answer to that question is easy: the city.
That the overhead wires that deliver power to the LRT vehicles are subject to failure when ice builds up on them is no longer news. Overhead wires for public transit is not new technology. Street cars and trams use them around the world, including in cities with winters similar to Ottawa. At this stage it really doesn’t matter why that Ottawa’s system is so susceptible to icing. It just is.
At issue is whether there is a permanent solution. The “solution” proposed by OC Transpo and its maintenance provider, Rideau Transit Group, was to run trains throughout the storm, to scrape the wires clear of ice before the build up resulted in failure. A low-cost solution. Well worth the effort to try. Except it didn’t work.
Councillors should have asked “What is Plan B?” shortly after a minor ice rain event brought the Confederation Line to a halt for several days earlier this year. Is there even a Plan B? Seriously, is there? Because if there isn’t, then what should be keeping each and every councillor awake at night is wondering if the city has competent people in charge.
On to the track gauge issue. How much track is at issue? How many sections are problematic? Can the problematic sections be ground down without having to re-lay the track? If so, how long would it take? Can it be done during the non-operational hours?
If reworking the existing rails is not possible, can the track be re-laid, and if so, how long will it take to fix? Can the LRT run between the end point and the nearest station, much like it is doing now, with buses shuttling between uOttawa and Tremblay stations? If not, does OC Transpo have enough buses and drivers to provide replacement service for the likely extended period of time that the Confederation Line is closed?
The answers to each of these questions should already be part of the public record. That they aren’t is just another example of the cultural challenges that city hall allows to impede an open, transparent and accountable government.
If the answers to any of these questions is not known, back to sleepless nights wondering where to find competent managers.
The too-tight curve in the tracks has the potential to be a major headache if it is determined that it must be physically changed. Down time, land assembly and cost are likely to be significant impediments. Perhaps the slower speeds now being used through that section of track is the best possible solution. Unless it is putting undue strain on the wheel-axle-bearing assemblies.
Which takes us to the biggest challenge. Is there an engineering solution to the wheel-axle-bearing assemblies? The ones that the Transportation Safety Board found to have inherent flaws. Flaws that could continue to result in catastrophic failures. Continue, as in a reference to the two derailments caused by the catastrophic failures of the parts that keep the trains on the tracks. Is the current maintenance schedule of a full check every 3,750 kilometres (how many days between checkups is that?) sustainable?
An open, transparent and accountable government would have answers to all these questions, and more. But only if the people tasked with oversight, notably city councillors, insist that they get complete, accurate reports on a timely basis, in a format that supports the decisions that need to be made. Reports that meet those criteria are few and far between down at city hall. Failure to get quality reports prevents councillors from meeting their statutory obligations. Failure to demand quality reports means that the governance problems are self-inflicted. It is time for council to “up its game”. They are being paid to play in the big league, leading an organization with an operating budget of $4.5 billion. They are no longer a volunteer executive on a local community association.
Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.
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One other question that should be keeping our transit leaders and council members awake at night is why they removed $39 M from the transit budget.
There is very little political experience, from the Mayor on down, in our council chambers . Afterall, the only qualification to govern is to get elected and now we are paying the price for some very poor choices from the Mayor on down.
Mr. KING won his seat at council by 8000 votes. Surely he is the chosen one. …although there is not a single LRT stop in Rideau Rockcliffe..ward 13.
Been There, while I agree with your general assessment of the qualifications of members of council, note that, aside from the problems associated with the ice build up on the overhead wires, all of the other problems cited in my column were known during Watson’s last term. Many members of that council had decades (a whole different problem) of political experience.
It wasn’t lack of political experience that has led to the dearth of open, transparent and accountable government. I suggest to you that is was political experience that led to it. Political experience to know that lying to the public, even lying to a judicial inquiry, has no meaningful consequences. It was political experience that lead to the explicit decisions to withhold critical information from council. Not just regarding the LRT. Recall Watson’s boasting that he did not share the $10 million Christmas Miracle (TM Rick Chiarelli) with every councillor, just his inside circle of supporters. It is political experience that knows that the LRT is a quagmire, one that is best avoided at all costs. Including the very real cost to the residents and employers of Ottawa of willfully leading a closed, opaque and unaccountable government.
A bigger problem than a lack of political experience is that too few members of council have had meaningful senior manager experience. Meaningful as in executive level manager of a large, mature organization. Too few have had to draft a complete, accurate report in a format designed to support informed decisions. Too few have had to defend that report in front of an experienced Board of Directors. Too few have had the experience of reading complete, accurate reports in a format that supports informed decisions. In short, too many members of council don’t know what they don’t know. That plays into the hands of the senior management of city hall, and the back room manipulators. Senior managers can continue to proffer incomplete, inaccurate reports without fear of being taken to task. They can continue to not be challenged for what would, in a mature, non-dysfunctional organization, be determined to be shoddy job performance.
As I said in my column, it is time for councillors to “up their game”. To learn from external sources what a quality report needs to look like. And then to demand that type of report from staff FOR EVERY decision they are being asked to make. To have the courage to defer making a decision until they have sufficient information in front of them to ensure that the decision being made is fully informed. In short, to push back against the culture that permits, dare I say encourages, closed, opaque and unaccountable government.
Hey Peter, I’m not sure we should be calling them “LRT Stops”.
The problems go back to: why these contractors? Why the “on time and on budget” rush? Why no charges brought against those who knew what was going on( and going wrong) but chose to hide it from taxpayers.
Kosmo – Instead of LRT Stops, how about “sanctioned breakdown locations”
Andrew, Kosmo:
You two are having great fun with this.
“Sanctioned breakdown locations.”
“stops”
Funny
cheers
kgray
What’s wrong with Ottawa? Here is but a tiny snippet of the thinking (but really lack there of) at city hall. Today on Moodie dr. near Corkstown rd there was a contractor with a water truck hosing grit off the road. I see this every year and every year there is a city minder/inspector truck the whole time. Now if this was some rationally run company that city inspector would bounce around to multiple sites where contractors were working. Come on, you actually have to see the hose wash the grit away in real time? Our inspector never leaves their vehicle. In other sightings of time wasting, anyone else notice just how many city vehicles cruise aimlessly around the city not performing any discernible task? If such a simple concept eludes city hall’s best and brightest (subjective this is) is it surprising that everything they touch is FUBAR?
Can I have a reference for “The reported improper gauge of at least one section of rail.” (I don’t doubt you but I don’t recall ths issue.)
Miranda:
Like Ron, I too do recall this issue.
I think you can easily find it using Google.
cheers
kgray
Miranda, per a CBC.ca report by Joanne Chianello on December 2, 2022 regarding the LRT Commissioner’s Report:
The misalignment of the train wheels to the Confederation Line track that likely caused the first of two derailments last year needs a long-term fix, even if it means ripping up the track, says the Ottawa LRT public inquiry report.
“It is a critical safety issue affecting the [LRT] system if left unaddressed,” wrote commissioner Justice William Hourigan in his much-anticipated 664-page report on what went wrong with the Confederation Line.
He called wheel-rail interface — the area where the train wheel meets the top of the track — “the most significant area that must be improved.”
This is what I was referring to as the track gauge problem. If the wheels do not fit on the track, then it is the gauge (the distance between the two rails) that is the problem. As the Commissioner stated (above) it is a critical safety issue.