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An Ottawa councillor is asking to see the full results of cold-weather testing performed on LRT vehicles by the National Research Council.

Keith Egli from Knoxdale-Merivale says councillors have heard a series of general assurances that the Alstom trains passed their testing, but have never heard enough details.

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“City council was informed on several occasions by senior staff that the trains currently in use on the LRT system were winter- and cold condition-tested at the NRC laboratories,” Egli wrote in a formal inquiry to city staff.

“Further, council was left with the impression that the testing had gone well and there were positive results regarding winter performance. However, the trains have experienced numerous challenges in winter conditions.”

He has asked what instructions were given to the NRC lab, and what results came from testing.

“It seems to be that this (the test results) is a bit of a missing part here. We’ve all been talking about the city and about the constructor and the maintenance and everything else,” he said in an interview. “But part of the decision-making process, I think, for a lot of councillors, was (that) we were told NRC — which is world-class in this kind of testing — has looked at these trains. They have put them through their paces and they have come back and said: Yup, these are good in the winter.”