This lack of completion could even have led to door problems for riders after the launch of the rail system, a witness suggested Monday to the commission investigating faults in the Ottawa LRT. Alstom built the trains for the Ottawa LRT, while Thales Canada Inc. provided the electronic signaling system that controls braking and propulsion, doors, sensors along the rails and more. It was up to Rideau Transit Group’s OLRT Constructors to do the crucial job of merging the two companies’ systems. The Confederation Line was the first time a train control system based on Thales communications had been integrated into a lightweight low-floor rail vehicle, the commission’s lawyers said. However, at a public hearing on light rail faults in Ottawa, Thales project manager Michael Burns testified that he tried to draw the train manufacturer’s attention early on how his company and Alstom needed to resolve issues in silos and not in collaboration. “They had challenges in fulfilling this role,” he told OLRT Constructors.
Poor “health check” before release
The Ottawa Light Rail Committee heard a similar finding last Friday from Rupert Holloway, vice president of SNC-Lavalin and civil engineer overseeing the construction of the train system at OLRT Constructors from May 2018 to May. of 2019. He said the Ottawa train system included thousands of sophisticated digital devices and that integrating the Confederation Line’s systems was “critical”. Holloway gave the example of how many systems would need to work together if there was a fire on a train in the tunnel. The train computers should detect the fire and inform the control room on Belfast Street, fresh air should flow to the riders as they evacuated and the elevators should be turned off to prevent other riders from descending into the tunnel. In retrospect, Holloway said RTG’s construction arm spent a lot of time focusing on building the tunnel – “a world-class civil engineering project” – but lost focus when it came to the “completion challenge”. “We certainly failed to meet this challenge as effectively as we could,” Holloway told the committee. A witness from the company that provided the train control systems for the Ottawa LRT testified on June 20, 2022 that the doors did not behave as expected after the launch of the system because the train manufacturer had changed commands. (Andrew Lee / CBC) The Ottawa LRT even received a bad grade six months before the 2018 start date when the system was to be delivered to the city of Ottawa. OLRT Constructors had hired consultant SEMP Ltd. to do a “health check” on whether the Ottawa system was well on its way to working and being safe. “The level of system engineering in the project to date is considered to be significantly lower than the minimum acceptable level for a project of this size and complexity,” the consultant summed up in November 2017. “This was a real catalyst for us,” Holloway said. OLRT Constructors then spent more than $ 20 million to send experts from the UK to help fill the gaps, he said.
A passenger was caught at the door
Burns described some cases in which Alstom had changed the way trains behaved without Thales’ knowledge. During pre-launch tests, he said Thales discovered that Alstom had changed software so that a train would stop if the emergency brake was pressed too many times, for safety reasons. Thales, meanwhile, has been testing its own emergency brakes. Then, after residents began driving the train in 2019, Burns said there was a case where a woman was caught when a train door closed prematurely. Burns explained that Thales would expect the door to reopen if something prevented her from closing. Upon investigation, it was found that Alstom had given a different order to this brand. Then Thales had to modify the software to prevent this door problem. Did you miss Tuesday hearing? See it here: The investigation also heard that Thales has not yet completed its work in the first stage of the Confederation Line. According to the contract, Thales was to install its control system at the Belfast Maintenance and Storage Facility, but it is not finished. Burns said the non-automated system at the railroad yard slows down the launch of the LRT system in the morning. The issue of unifying the various systems is expected to be discussed further on Tuesday morning, when Alstom’s Lowell Goudge is scheduled to testify. Goudge oversaw the integration of the train system and was the safety certifier for Alstom. In the afternoon, the committee will hear from Jacques Bergeron, who was responsible for integrating the Thales and Alstom systems from 2014 to 2018.
