The "Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission" postpones the return of the O-Train service for an additional ten days to allow the "Rideau Transit Group" to complete additional infrastructure work on the 12.5 km rail line between the Blair and Tunney's Pasture stations.

The light rail transit system in Ottawa was scheduled to resume service on Monday with eight single-car trains, after two weeks of discovering an axle load issue in one of the trains during a routine 50,000-kilometer inspection.

The General Manager of Transportation Services said in a memo to the council on Friday afternoon that further work is needed on the line before resuming service.

Amilcar said, “RTG and Alstom conducted several tests on the rail vehicles, leading to the need for additional track infrastructure work to ensure that the train wheels do not contact the restraining rail."

On Tuesday, Alstom and the Rideau Transit Group operated a test vehicle with an out-of-tolerance axle at regular speeds to identify vibration signatures. Amilcar said, "This will help further analyze the issues affecting the wheel axle."

In the memo on Friday, Amilcar stated, "The regional commission is working with RTG to determine the next steps, including a new risk assessment of the work that the track infrastructure complies with the new safety memo."

Amilcar added, "The work to assess the risks and the next steps to modify the rail infrastructure will continue over the weekend, and once the risk assessment is completed, it will take about 10 days to complete the track infrastructure work."

Further information regarding the work and timelines for the safe resumption of service will be provided on Monday.

Additionally, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, City Manager Wendy Stephenson, and officials from the regional commission and Rideau Transit Group will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. to provide an update on the "O-Train Line 1," which will be streamed live.

Earlier this week, Amilcar said, “Three milestones must be met to safely resume service on the line, following the shutdown on July 17 due to a wheel bearing issue.”

Two of the milestones have been achieved, with inspections on all 44 light rail vehicles completed and the final safety memo from the Rideau Transit Group outlining the new containment plan standards for safe operations on Line 1. Amilcar states that the draft safety memo requires additional measures to ensure that there is no contact between the train wheel and the restraining rail.

The final milestone to be reached is a report from the French company regarding the investigation into the dismantling and analysis of the problematic wheel axle found on one train, according to Amilcar. When O-Train service resumes, there will be eight single-car trains operating along the line between the Blair and Tunney's Pasture stations, with trains arriving at the stations every seven to eight minutes.

Amilcar states that the single-car trains will operate for the foreseeable future to reduce kilometers and inspections under the new maintenance system.

The regional commission and Rideau Transit Group also announced on Wednesday that all leading and trailing wheel axle assemblies on O-Train vehicles will be replaced every 60,000 kilometers as part of the new inspection and replacement system. The permanent repair will see the Rideau Transit Group and Alstom redesign the wheel axle assemblies in all trains.