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The eastern stretch shut down for an afternoon commute when an overhead wire was pulled down by a train.

Maintenance delays have removed some Alstom Citadis Spirit trains from peak-period service this week. At one point, there were eight trains delivering service during one of the busiest service times. There should be 13 trains on the 12.5-kilometre line at the peak hours.

Transit commission chair Allan Hubley was compelled to call a special meeting for city management and RTG to explain why LRT service has been so bad.

The city is critical of RTG’s maintenance capabilities and has been holding back monthly payments to the company.

John Manconi, the city’s transportation general manager, said RTG needs “more experienced railroaders” in Ottawa maintaining the Confederation Line.

RTG is paying to bring in JBA Corp., whose experts have already been advising the city on LRT, to review the maintenance program and make changes to improve it.

The severe train shortages have forced Transpo to redirect supplemental bus service during the morning and afternoon peak periods. The special bus service will run until at least Jan. 31.

The city confirmed one important fact: all 34 LRT vehicles were Day 1 ready when the city accepted the rail system last summer and all 34 have been put into revenue service at various times. (The vehicles are coupled to make full trains).

City and RTG officials explained why so many trains weren’t leaving the maintenance facility lately.

One train was out of commission because of the overhead wire pull-down near St. Laurent Station last week. Another train had a problem with a compressor that helps level the vehicle.

Then, numerous trains had to be pulled because of flat spots on the steel wheels, which isn’t unusual in train operations but the maintenance contractor has had trouble keeping up with the time-consuming fixes using a wheel lathe.

Michael Morgan, the city’s rail construction director, said there needs to be a root-cause investigation to see why so many wheel flats have been happening lately.

LRT has been unreliable for much of the four months the transit system has been operating.

Service delays haven’t hurt Transpo’s ridership numbers so far, though.