Article content

Only seven weeks before the handover deadline for the $2.1-billion LRT system — and a week before a crippling snowstorm — a specialized rail-plow malfunctioned and struck vital transmission equipment on the track.

It is further evidence the city’s keystone public-transit initiative, to be transferred from builder Rideau Transit Group on March 31, will not only miss the deadline but may have shortcomings only uncovered in winter testing under extreme weather conditions.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Egan: How winter-ready is our LRT system after snow plow mishap? Back to video

The city’s director of rail construction program, Michael Morgan, confirmed a plow employed by RTG’s maintenance division damaged parts of the system on Feb. 6 near uOttawa Station.

Without providing many details, Morgan said Rideau Transit’s largest plow, a Knox Kershaw, damaged two so-called “balises,” which are signalling transponders that lie flat between the tracks, just above the ground-level ties.

The transponders provide pinpoint siting information and are an important part of the “train control system.” (If only to state the obvious, the location or spacing between trains is not only a critically important safety component but essential to running 15 double-trains simultaneously at peak times, on schedule, ensuring service through the downtown tunnel every three or four minutes.)