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Ottawa light rail line shut down by equipment issue

By Trains Staff | July 18, 2023

| Last updated on February 4, 2024


System closed following discovery of bearing problem during inspection

Red and white light rail train rounds curve
Ottawa’s Confederation line has been shut down after a bearing issue was discovered on a trainset during a routine inspection. OC Transpo

OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa’s O-Train light rail Confederation Line has been shut down until further notice because of a bearing issue discovered during a routine equipment inspection.

OC Transpo announced the service interruption about 4:30 p.m. Monday. CTV News reports transit services general manager Renée Amilcar informed city officials the move was made “in an abundance of caution.”

An Aug. 8, 2021, derailment on the problem-plagued Confederation line was later attributed to a catastrophic bearing failure; a subsequent derailment led to a lengthy closure of the 7.8-mile, 13-station system [see “Ottawa light rail system faces extended shutdown,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 4, 2021]. The system’s ongoing problems triggered a public inquiry that issued a report last year highly critical of both city officials and the consortium that built the system [see “Report from Ottawa light rail inquiry blasts …,” News Wire, Dec. 1, 2022].

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