The testimony of a number of high-profile players in the ongoing LRT investigation has sparked some dramatic moments, from the revelation that it was the city’s former transport manager who called for the tests to be facilitated. proof to the point that Mayor Jim Watson forgot to tell investigating lawyers that he was receiving daily updates on the project, which other board members did not receive.
But these star witnesses sometimes overshadow other witnesses, especially those of a more technical nature. After all, one of the key goals of the research is to clarify what caused the two derailments of the Alstom Citadis Spirit trains in 2021.
We now know that the second, in September of that year, was due to human error and, in the words of a report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), “incomplete maintenance.”
In fact, the way the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) maintenance group and its subcontractor Alstom have acted is one of the key issues in this investigation.
But what caused the August 2021 derailment? The wheel broke from the axle due to a problem with the bearing, but we still don’t know what loosened the screw inside the bearing in the first place.
The final week of hearings for Ottawa’s light rail public investigation begins Monday. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)
Alstom has a theory.
The France-based company, along with axle manufacturer Texelis, drew up a preliminary report in early May. His central claim is that the stress on the components comes from the excessive pressure to turn sharp curves on the Confederation Line.
And not only is there the stress of the train components, but there is also “corrugation” in the rail: small crests in the shape of waves that had to be removed by grinding. (How often this grinding is done, or should be done, is a matter of discussion in the consultation.)
The report argues that “the actual runway as it is built is not in line with the design as stated” to the specifications Alstom agreed with the LRT builders.
The axis of an LRT train on the Ottawa Confederation line was evacuated from the railroad on August 8, 2021, and sparked an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. (Alexander Behne / CBC)
The rail was flatter than expected, according to the train manufacturer.
The investigation has heard from executives at Alstom and OLRT Constructors, which is the construction arm of Rideau Transit Group, that the width, or distance between the parallel rails, was too narrow. During the testing phase, OLRT Constructors widened the rails.
Lowell Goudge, Alstom’s chief engineer and safety certifier for Citadis Spirit trains, said on June 21 that while the company was able to operate the vehicles safely, it still had “concerns.”
The profile of the track also does not match the profile of the wheel, the report argues.
“It’s a combination of the track, the wheel lane interface, the running profile,” he said. Goudge, who signed Alstom’s preliminary investigation, admitted that the company cannot make definitive cause and effect findings from all of its observations.
“The only conclusion we could really draw absolutely was that we were taking excessive loads on the curves,” he stated. And that unexpected pressure was causing the components to wear out prematurely, leading to the August 2021 derailment.
The limited testing window for LRT may have caused officials to get lost in trouble, according to the investigation
Lowell Goudge, who was the engineer of the Confederate Line train system, says the test schedule seemed “compressed,” which could have caused officials to miss problems that would have been seen if the tests they would have lasted longer.
However, Rideau Transit Group disagrees with Alstom’s preliminary findings.
“RTG has commissioned an independent root cause analysis that will review Alstom’s findings and evidence, as well as information provided by all other relevant parties,” according to a statement from Helen Bobat, spokeswoman for RTG and its parent companies, SNC-Lavalin. ACS Infrastructure and Ellis Don.
City railway manager worried about the track, derailments
The track itself has been a topic of discussion in local railway circles for years.
A request for access to CBC information for communications on the cracked wheel problem in the summer of 2020 revealed that one of the city’s own railway managers had raised concerns about a possible derailment a year later. whole before two in 2021.
On July 13, 2020, Russ Hoas, a rail systems manager, especially on the Trillium line, wrote to rail operations director Duane Duquette about his concerns about wheel cracks. Hoas “strongly suggested” that the fleet be withdrawn until the issue was resolved.
(The TSB said in December 2020 that a protruding dam screw could have caused the cracks, but the final report has not yet been released.)
“A bad track only adds a greater degree of possible derailment, while in revenue service,” Hoas wrote.
He continued: “Poor design together with the lack of adequate geometry tests in 2017 and 2019 (preservei) as noted at the time, would have provided evidence of track structure anomalies. Not to mention that the interface rolls / rail is a key component due to derailments Trains that climb curves [the Confederation Line] it is an indication of an inadequate running surface with a lack of speed balance through the curves “.
OC Transpo Troy Charter Director of Traffic Operations. (Jean Delisle / CBC)
Hoas was one of five city-appointed appraisers, along with rail director Michael Morgan, who failed SNC-Lavalin in its technical presentation for the expansion of the Trillium line. SNC-Lavalin still won the $ 1.67 billion contract.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Hoas worked for Bombardier for 15 years before joining the city in 2015.
Troy Charter, the city’s director of traffic services and rail operations, wrote to Duquette that he wanted to meet with Hoas to leverage his knowledge, but also to “make it clear that at no time was public safety endangered. “.
He also wrote that he was “disappointed” that Hoas believed the city “would ever consider running a service while putting customers at risk.”
The city did not allow CBC to interview Hoas. In addition, the first response sent after CBC’s request for access to information did not include Hoas’s email or Charter’s response.
Both only materialized after CBC requested a second search of records.
The LRT builders ’own consultant had concerns
And Friday morning’s testimony from consultant Derek Wynne, overshadowed by the mayor’s virtual appearance in that afternoon’s investigation, conveyed even more concerns about the track.
Wynne is a senior vice president of UK-based SEMP, which was the systems engineering and assurance company hired by OLRT Consultants from 2017 until just after the launch of the LRT in the fall of 2019.
He stated that even in 2018, it was clear that the security analysis was being thought of as something to check out in the end, rather than something that should have been underway from the beginning.
The commission saw a few pages of a PowerPoint presentation called “OLRT-C Rail Wear Hazard” in January 2019 that Wynne said was never submitted because the track evaluation “caused great consternation.” .
The presentation concluded that, based on the design of the wheel interface, there was “a significant potential for risk of rail defects” that could lead to “a premature failure of the rail component.”
Wynne said that at the request of OLRT Constructor executives, he drafted a “softer report” calling for more system restrictions and maintenance, rather than “significant changes” to the track.
“Both options are valid: fix it before the revenue service or keep it broadly during the service life,” he said, adding that the problems were “well known” before the LRT was in the public service. .
The UK consultant, who stated that it had nothing to do with Alstom, appeared to agree with a number of assessments by the train company about what could have caused the bearing failure that caused the derailment of the August 2019.
The safety certificate he finally signed toward the end of the project included warnings on how to keep track, but Wynne was unclear when she returned to Ottawa, two years after the LRT opened, if all restrictions . which he had placed were following.
On Monday, City Administrator Steve Kanellakos is due to testify, followed by independent certifier Monica Sechiari of Altus Group.