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Months after a bearing issue forced it to cut back LRT service, OC Transpo says the O-Train’s Line 1 will return to full double-car weekday service on June 8.
Transit services general manager Rick Leary reported the plan in a memo to councillors on Wednesday afternoon, saying frequencies will be set at five-minute intervals during peak periods. Single-car service will continue on weekends.
Leary had previously committed to double-car service by mid-June, but had hinted that he might be able to hit that goal earlier. The system did move to a combination of single and double cars earlier this month.
OC Transpo started running single-car trains on Jan. 21, after its contractors found metal flaking off inside the cartridge bearing assemblies that connect the train’s axles to its wheels.
That pushed OC Transpo to keep any train car with more than 100,000 kilometres of mileage off the rails, leaving it without enough vehicles to run full service.
In the meantime, contractor Rideau Transit Group and trainmaker Alstom have been working on a solution based on sensors that detect problems almost as they happen. Those devices have now been installed on several vehicles and testing is in progress, according to Leary.
OC Transpo has also been working to replace the problem parts and get more trains below that mileage threshold. Leary said there are now enough to return to full weekday service.
Though the months of single-car service sometimes caused crowding at stations and on the trains, the LRT was also able to run at increased frequencies of three to four minutes.
The five-minute peak period intervals starting June 8 mark a return to normal frequencies.