TSB launches formal investigation of LRT train wheel cracks

Canada's rail safety agency is launching a formal investigation into the wheel cracks on the light rail trains that run on Ottawa's Confederation Line, CBC has learned.

Earlier this week, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) was "assessing reports" of cracks on wheels on three separate Alstom Citadis Spirit vehicles.

Maintenance workers found two cracked wheelson July 2 on a single train, the TSB said. The next day, on July 3,two more cracked wheels were found on two additional trains, the TSB says.

After making initial observations, the TSB has now decided a formal investigation is warranted, according to CBC sources.

After CBC first broke this news Friday morning, the TSB confirmed later in the day it would be launching a class three investigation into four cracked wheels on three light rail vehicles.

Class threeinvestigations are required to be detailed, the TSB website says, and may occur when incidents attract a high level of public interest, when there is a moderate risk to property or the environment or when new safety lessons are likely to bediscovered. Class threeinvestigations alsooccur whenthere is public expectation the TSB will investigate.

The investigations typically take more than oneyear to complete and the resulting reports can be up to 30 pages long, the TSB says.

• TSB eyeing cracked wheels on Ottawa's new LRT trains
• LRT service scaled back after more defective wheels found

The TSB is anindependent federal agency with a mandate to increase safety in air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation in Canada. It conducts investigations, which can include the testing of components and systems, and makes recommendations to improve safety if they're required.

Since the defects were discovered, the maintenance arm of Rideau Transit Group the consortium that built the $2.1-billion LRTnetwork isinspecting all wheels after each use, reducing the available Confederation Line fleet to just seven trains at any one time.

That'sless than half the number of trainsoriginally promised.

Cracked LRT wheels lead to calls for transparency and accountability

4 years ago

Duration 0:52

Sarah Wright-Gilbert, a citizen member of the citys transit commission, says Rideau Transit Maintenance must prove their ability to effectively maintain the Confederation Line.

Council to meet over RTG's future

The TSB investigation is the latest debacle in the ongoing drama that is the Confederation Line, which has been plagued by problems since its public launch last September.

• Analysis: Notes from the underground: lessons from Ottawa's LRT flop
• Transit commissioners demand action in wake of RTG CEO's departure

In June, OC Transpo boss John Manconi told councillors he doubted the light rail system would be running reliably by Labour Day, even though RTG has promised to have 15 double trains running by Aug. 4.

The city issued RTG a notice of default in March, arguingthe consortium hasn't lived up to its contractual obligations. The city also hasn't paid RTG since a $4.5-million cheque sent to them late last year for September service.

The TSB investigation will likely be one in along list of issues tackled at a behind-closed-doorsupdate to be given to councillors at the July 15 council meeting.

As well as hearing the latest on the financial and legal dispute between the city and RTG, councillors are also expected to learn what other options, if any, are available if the city wants to break its 30-year contract with the consortium.