Mayor Jim Watson tells 1310 NEWS he believes this time Rideau Transit Group will meet Substantial Completion for the Confederation Line.

Mayor Jim Watson has no doubt in his mind that Rideau Transit Group will get the green light from city officials and an independent certifier.

RTG issued a Substantial Completion Notice on July 22, which means the project has reached a point where they believe construction and testing is effectively complete. An independent certifier, appointed by the city, is looking over the light rail system before RTG can start its 12-day trial run.

Mayor Watson was provided with an update on how the inspection was going, fueling his assurance in having the system ready by the fall.

"What I heard gave me confidence that we are going to be able to have the service up and running for passengers in September," Watson told 1310 NEWS. "What day in September, we will probably know in a couple of weeks."

This is the second time the consortium building the $2.1-billion Confederation line has applied for Substantial Competition back in May. RTG failed to achieve completion due to a number of issues with the trains themselves.

Watson said there were 14 two-car trains out Thursday and he has been seeing testing on the 13-stop system everyday.

Back in June, the Mayor vowed to have the service ready for passengers in September following an in-person meeting with both RTG and Alstom, the builders of the trains.

The city has five days to provide an independent certifier its opinion as to whether the conditions of the Substantial Completion have been met. The independent certifier will then have five days to determine whether it thinks RTG has satisfied the conditions of the notice.

RTG plans to hand over the system to the city on August 16.