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Are these cars used on the confederation line used in cold climates in other places of the world? 

Did they test these cars for cold weather before being delivered? I would think that if they had done that some of these issues could have been avoided. Especially the cab heat issues.

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7 minutes ago, Shaun said:

Are these cars used on the confederation line used in cold climates in other places of the world? 

Did they test these cars for cold weather before being delivered? I would think that if they had done that some of these issues could have been avoided. Especially the cab heat issues.

The Citadis family of vehicles are used in other cold climate areas of the world.

These vehicles were tested at the NRC in -40 degree conditions and they were out running last winter too. The cab heat issue is annoying, but not a huge flaw. The inductor problem is more serious, but isn't actually directly linked to snow or cold weather. Honestly, there's very little wrong with the vehicles that is directly linked to the winter. The rest of the system is another question..

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On 3/1/2020 at 7:53 PM, OCCheetos said:

The Citadis family of vehicles are used in other cold climate areas of the world.

These vehicles were tested at the NRC in -40 degree conditions and they were out running last winter too. The cab heat issue is annoying, but not a huge flaw. The inductor problem is more serious, but isn't actually directly linked to snow or cold weather. Honestly, there's very little wrong with the vehicles that is directly linked to the winter. The rest of the system is another question..

Just curious, where are the other cold climate areas where the Citadis runs?  I’d argue that Canada’s Light Rail systems are probably the most cold climates of any above ground systems in the world - and maybe throw in Minneapolis - and none use a Citadis besides Ottawa.

 

Certainly there’s places where it may snow some (like Grenoble, France), but it rarely drops much below freezing there  


Maybe I’m missing one?

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19 minutes ago, CTrainDude said:

Just curious, where are the other cold climate areas where the Citadis runs?  I’d argue that Canada’s Light Rail systems are probably the most cold climates of any above ground systems in the world - and maybe throw in Minneapolis - and none use a Citadis besides Ottawa.

 

Certainly there’s places where it may snow some (like Grenoble, France), but it rarely drops much below freezing there  


Maybe I’m missing one?

They are used in Moscow and St Petersburg.

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Who likes coffee? Posted on OC's website. Though IMO, they shouldn't set up a coffee shop when there aren't any washrooms; that's asking for trouble with the high traffic Rideau gets.

Happy Goat Coffee Company coming soon to four Line 1 stations!

Something’s brewing! Look for these signs indicating where Happy Goat Coffee will soon be setting up shop at the following stations:

  • Tunney’s Pasture
  • Rideau
  • Hurdman
  • Blair
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4 hours ago, Loud-Invero said:

Who likes coffee? Posted on OC's website. Though IMO, they shouldn't set up a coffee shop when there aren't any washrooms; that's asking for trouble with the high traffic Rideau gets.

Happy Goat Coffee Company coming soon to four Line 1 stations!

Something’s brewing! Look for these signs indicating where Happy Goat Coffee will soon be setting up shop at the following stations:

  • Tunney’s Pasture
  • Rideau
  • Hurdman
  • Blair

There are public washrooms at all of those stations. 

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Redeau if I'm not mistaken is the only one that actually doesn't have washrooms in the stations. Grant you there are plenty of washrooms in the Redeau Centre itself though. The others have washrooms. I believe there are only 2 Public washrooms(toilets)at Hurdman near the entrance. Not sure of Blair & Tunneys how many there are?

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41 minutes ago, Michel said:

There are public washrooms at all of those stations.

Not Rideau. Read my whole post, particularly “the high traffic Rideau gets”. Though as MCIBUS said, Rideau Centre is open when Line 1 is and has washrooms themselves. I’m guessing they expect you to travel above ground and travel a few hundred meters to service yourself, so to speak.

 

8 minutes ago, MCIBUS said:

I believe there are only 2 Public washrooms(toilets)at Hurdman near the entrance. Not sure of Blair & Tunneys how many there are?

Blair and Tunney’s are full sized, sex segregated. Hurdman has 2 Unisex toilets, 1 per room. Haven’t been to Bayview but I’d imagine it’s like Hurdman.

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6 hours ago, Loud-Invero said:

Not Rideau. Read my whole post, particularly “the high traffic Rideau gets”. Though as MCIBUS said, Rideau Centre is open when Line 1 is and has washrooms themselves. I’m guessing they expect you to travel above ground and travel a few hundred meters to service yourself, so to speak.

Your entire post was left wide open for interpretation and ripe for argument.  I know what you meant and you knew what I meant by my response.

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If the city eventually cancels the contract with both RTG & SN Lavin its going to cost the city ten's of million in lawsuits. Don'tr be surprised if it ends up costing the city 100m+.

 

Just look at what happened when Larry O'Brian canceled the First LRT. City had to pay out $40M  and got nothing in return(yes you can argue we got a better LRT-when working properly)

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5 hours ago, Michel said:

Short of jinxing it, has anyone noticed how reliable the Confederation Line has been in the past week?  I don't think there has been one breakdown that has occurred.

Yup, the Confederation Line has been quite reliable this week. I have been following the Line 1 issues daily since October 6, and according to my notes, there have been no major/disastrous issues or disruptions that have caused major delays to passengers directly. R1 also has not been needed at all this week.

The recurring issue this past week seems to have been RTG/RTM trying to launch trains.
 
On Monday, March 9, a 13th train tried to launch during the morning commute, but had to be taken back to the yard, due to an air compressor issue. So there was a very, very brief time on Monday morning where 13 trains were running, before the air compressor issue occurred, and we were back to 12 trains.
 
On Wednesday, March 11, RTG/RTM made two attempts to launch a 12th train for peak service.
- First attempt was around 06:15, but the train had to be returned to the yard due to a brake issue. An ERO was ready to board the train upon it reaching the mainline, but the train did not even enter the mainline before it had its issue. 
- The second attempt was around 09:00, but the train had an unspecified issue, and had to immediately return to the yard upon its arrival at Blair.
 
Today, 13 trains were confirmed by OC Transpo (and my own count/observations), to be running on the line simultaneously during the AM commute. This is the first time this has happened in over two weeks, as the full complement of 13 trains for peak period service has not happened since February 26.
 
While no major issues have occurred this past week; I have observed, noted, and read about some other minor issues seen over the past few days since Saturday including:
- platform and train overcrowding,
- issues with PIDS (Passenger Info Display Screens) showing incorrect next-train arrival times,
- issues with announcements playing incorrect information (ex. train is departing Tunney's played when train is arriving at Tunney's)
- sudden braking,
- minor technical issues,
- doors not opening or closing on trains.
 
Keep in mind that these are minor issues that can happen on any transit system, not just Ottawa's. While they can and sometimes do impact commuters and passengers, they have not resulted in a major incident occurring this past week. It will be interesting to see if this trend of reliable Line 1 service continues for the foreseeable future.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interview with Pat Scrimgeour - Director of Transit Customer Systems and Planning - March 2020

In this video interview with Pat Scrimgeour, Director of Transit Customer Systems and Planning, we discuss and get some context on the service being offered, improvements that have occurred and are planned, the arrival of Happy Goat Coffee Co., busking program, next bus arrival times, and Stage 2 LRT.

Please note, this interview was conducted earlier in the month of March.

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/interview-with-pat-scrimgeour-director-of-transit-customer-systems-and-planning-march-2020

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This morning, I found this article online from yesterday, March 27 2020. Apparently the Confederation Line has been recognized for excellence in engineering. Article titled "Ottawa light-rail line recognized for engineering excellence"

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/Ottawa-light-rail-line-recognized-for-engineering-excellence--60078

 

I also did some further searching on this. Here is another article on the same subject, also from March 27 2020, titled "Ottawa LRT Earns National Recognition Award"

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/light-rail/ottawa-lr-earns-national-recognition-award/

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