O-Train - Service Interruptions

[DBellerive]

RTM provided 9 trains this morning, meaning 6 minutes interval.

There is also a few reports that some of the trains deployed were not "tip-top", with many reports of flat wheels and harsh operations. Might be a bit weather related, but none the less not a highlight of the day.

@Dr. Human, I would guess they don't start on Mackenzie King is there is no space to "stage them" before service. Currently, buses are parked on the right lane on the bridge until they are sent to Albert and Bank. I don't think there would be a good spot further west without having them exposed to traffic delays (as is the case with the baseball stadium).

[Rick Mayson Durrett]

I’m really disappointed with the performance or should I say non performance or the system so far. I had high hopes and remained optimistic during the initial hiccups but it appears that RTM is incapable of making life better for commuters. It seems lots of people are losing faith and either taking a vehicle to work or car sharing. My daughter who works close to the Parliament station and lives in Barrhaven would be a great candidate for the train however she has a daycare deadline to meet and has to be on time for work. She just can’t rely on the service. She takes her SUV to work everyday and has a monthly parking permit now. Another woman cost shares and rides with her. The train was supposed to help all these folks get out of their cars but it isn’t happening...just the opposite. 

[Shane]

Hi Rick,

I agree. The current situation does disappoint. The service opened with high expectations and the initial launch period went quite smoothly (all things considered). The period after October 6th was rough but things were moving in the right direction. The last 2 weeks have been by far the worst performance.

There is no doubt that with time these issues will be a thing of the past but in the period until then it does make public transit difficult, and likely is pushing people to other means of commuting, like you said.

Issues at launch is not something new and most cities suffer from this for the first months or year. Despite that, it doesn't make it easier while things are rough.

The good news from the Transit Commission meeting last week is that the door issue is scheduled to be mostly reduced or its impact greatly reduced in the coming weeks with a new software update for the trains.

VOBC and TCMS have been contained better and the meeting stated there hadn't been a real issue on that front since mid-December if I recall correctly.

Seemingly the switches and the electrical issues of late are the biggest issues at this point.

Lets hope the external consultation and assistance by JBA will help close the gap and make the difference to get things on track to head in the direction we need without any more detours in that path.

[Rick Mayson Durrett]

https://apple.news/A_DPKwHNGQaOZxDtE4rd7dQ

And now the cameras are unreliable. I must say I’m used to hearing the whistles when I travel by train in the UK. As you say Shane they are all start up glitches. A few years from now we’ll wonder what the fuss was about. 

[Shane]

Don't get me wrong, the service being offered (train and bus) is not acceptable at this time and much work needs to be done to get it to where it needs to be and where passengers and customers deserve (both in reliability, comfort and timeliness). Very unfortunate that all this has come to pass. I'm eager for all this to be a thing of the past.

Not the start I was expecting at all.

[Guest]

And here we are again. Day 9 of S1/R1 service and less than 10 trains available. This type of service is highly unacceptable, they should at bare minimum offer a fare freeze, or rather a decrease in overall fare (let's say, from $3.60 to $2.50) for 3 months. This is getting ridiculous!

Edited January 30, 2020 by Guest

[Dr. Human]

Good news! We have now almost reached a full week without any issues (153 hours as of now to be precise). Considering that at this point last week it seemed like the whole thing was falling apart, it's great to hear this. It seems like JBA really did a good job finding and fixing the issues. However, there hasn't been any big test, so let's see how the trains will perform tomorrow and Friday, when periods of snowfall are expected. Hoping there won't be any issues, and if there are that it will be an opportunity for JBA to figure out exactly what they are and how to fix them long-term. The month of January was a real challenge, but February has started well and hopefully will continue like this. 

[Shane]

Here are some updates from OC Transpo on the current status of the system.

Yesterday ( Feb 26 ) - https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/o-train-line-1-february-26-2020

Today (Feb 27 ) - https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/o-train-line-1-update-february-27-2020-1

AM Peak had 7 trains and currently for PM Peak, 7 trains are in service.

[Shane]

The city's motion of default to RTG can be found via the link below, as well as the press release related to this action.

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/confederation-line-stage-2-lrt-update-fedco-march-9-2020

[J.OT13]

[DBellerive]

Conflicted about the closures.

Assuming service levels were to be regular (as in no COVID-19), would RTG have been able to perform those operations without affecting service levels? I am led to believe that they wouldn't be able to.

I appreciate that they are being proactive and getting stuff done in this period of lower traffic that can be better accommodated by R1 service, but RTG (and the City for this matter) stated that most work could be completed in the overnight closure periods. Hopefully this work ends up paying for the long-term reliability but I am remain skeptic about RTG's ability to deliver on the performance metrics if full closures are to be authorized like this.

Also want to add that a 3 day notice for this duration of closure is not appropriate IMO. Especially with the changes going on with R2 / Trillium.

[occheetos]

40 minutes ago, DavidBellerive said:

I appreciate that they are being proactive and getting stuff done in this period of lower traffic that can be better accommodated by R1 service, but RTG (and the City for this matter) stated that most work could be completed in the overnight closure periods.

It's in RTG's best interests to get this done ASAP of course. Based on the description of the work being done, I'm sure it would otherwise have been done during overnight maintenance periods, but that likely would have spanned several months.

[STO_1601]

Confederation Line to shut down for maintenance Sunday, with partial closure Mon-Wed

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/confederation-line-to-shut-down-for-maintenance-sunday-with-partial-closure-mon-wed-1.4985157

[Shane]

And Sunday around 6pm ish, a notice came down to indicate that the partial closure Monday to Wednesday was being modified to be a complete closure until the end of the week to permit RTG to complete work. Apparently RTG made a last minute request for this to which the city agreed.

The new memo can be found here : https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/update-memo-o-train-line-1-temporary-closure

[Shane]

Line 1 will be shutting down approximately 2 hrs earlier this evening and possibly additional evenings this week. RTG has asked for additional time during the evening maintenance shut down period over night to undertake track adjustments and repairs. Loads are very light at this time of night and will all be accommodated with bus service. 

According to OC's twitter, the last trains will leave Blair and Tunney's today at 10:45pm.