WATERLOO REGION — Have you had an LRT railway gate block you at a crossing when there is no Ion train in sight?

Gates come down and stick almost five times a week, on average. It happens more often than planners want and is among the most common problems along the 19-kilometre rail transit line in Kitchener and Waterloo.

Maintenance records show at least 117 railway gates got stuck between June and November.

It happens most commonly at University Avenue where gates got stuck at least 24 times, twice the failure rate of any other location.

"We would like to see it get better," said Thomas Schmidt, transportation commissioner for Waterloo regional government.

He said the private firm that operates the LRT is "clearly doing work to try and improve the reliability of those gates." He knows that gates go up and down a lot.

"It should be anticipated that we will occasionally have failures," he said.

Documents released to The Record show that breakdowns at LRT crossings are more common than electrical failures, track problems, or station woes along the route.

"While we are concerned about the impact on traffic of the problems occurring at crossings, we are confident we are working through our findings to improve the system," Gurjeet Kaur, spokesperson for LRT operator Keolis, said in a statement.

Kaur said there may be many reasons why a gate fails. It takes time to iron out issues in new systems and may take time to diagnose and fix a problem, she said.

She's clear about what not to do if facing a gate that's stuck.

"Never get out of your car and try to force open gates that are stuck down as it is unsafe to do so," she said. Motorists are asked instead to call 519-575-4400.

Keolis has a control room that monitors each crossing and can send a repair team, Kaur said.

If a gate fails to descend, the train is expected to stop before entering a crossing. It will proceed at walking speed with lights flashing and horn sounding if the tracks are clear.

Other locations where gates repeatedly got stuck include Balzer Road, Columbia Street, Caroline at Erb streets, Northfield Drive, Ottawa Street, Siebert Avenue and Wilson Street.

Keolis is paid almost $9 million a year to operate and maintain the LRT system. To make gates more reliable, the firm said it is replacing parts.

The Record obtained 7,678 maintenance records for dates between June 1 and Nov. 30, 2019 in a Freedom-of-Information request.

The records show that a wiring change was made in September to make gates more reliable at Columbia Street.

In other maintenance examples, 18 electronic gate monitors were replaced by Nov. 22. Lights on gates were being replaced with a different design. A vendor was also examining the mechanical reliability of gate arms.

A different kind of mishap occurs when railway gates strike vehicles, or when vehicles get stuck between gates.

This is not rare — there were at least 31 incidents over six months. Maintenance records reveal the incidents but do not indicate who is at fault.

In November vehicles were struck at least 16 times by railway gates, or were trapped between gates. Some collisions damaged the gate or the vehicle; others did not.

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The $1-billion Ion transit system launched June 21 with passengers.

It launched with less frequent service than originally planned, running trains every 10 minutes rather than every eight minutes in peak periods.

Schmidt said the public may learn in a few months when the planned frequency will be achieved.

Two-thirds of all maintenance-related work orders for the LRT system relate to the 14 trains. Other work orders relate to fixed assets such as tracks, stations, the electrical system, crossings, and the central maintenance facility on Dutton Drive in Waterloo.

Trains saw 887 minor defects addressed under warranty over six months for problems such as loose handrails, broken lights, misadjusted doors, odd sounds and poor ventilation.

This is normal for a new fleet, train supplier Bombardier says. The trains "are performing well and demonstrating excellent reliability," spokesperson Kaven Delarosbil said.

By October the Ion fleet was able to travel 540 kilometres on average before requiring any maintenance or repair, documents show. That's better than June at 272 kilometres but not July at 618 kilometres. This benchmark does not measure disruptions to passenger service.

Individual trains, numbered on the cabin, vary widely in maintenance. Trains 501 and 509 are consistently less reliable than the fleet while trains 506 and 513 are consistently more reliable.

Documents show the fixed assets of the LRT system achieved their best maintenance reliability in October, averaging more than nine hours between any maintenance or repair. In June it was just under nine hours. This benchmark also does not measure disruptions to passenger service.

Schmidt said regional government is satisfied with the maintenance of both the fleet and fixed assets.

Go to therecord.com to track the durability of the LRT system.

jouthit@therecord.com

Twitter: @OuthitRecord

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