OTTAWA, Ontario — More than a year after its original handoff date, the consortium building Ottawa’s Confederation Line light rail project says, for the second time, that the line is “essentially complete” and ready to hand over for operation.
The notice from the Rideau Transportation Group means the city has five days to provide its opinion to an independent certifier that all conditions for construction have been met, the Ottawa Citizen reports, and the certifier has another five days to make a final decision on those conditions.
If the parties agree the line is essentially complete, 12 days of trial operation would begin to assess safety, running times, and other systems.
Rideau had said in May that construction was complete, but the certifier agreed with the city that more work was needed, particularly regarding flaws with Alstom’s light-rail vehicles.
The 12.5-kilometer (7.8 mile), 13-station Confederation Line will join the existing 8-kilometer (5-mile) diesel-powered light rail Trillium Line as part of the O Train transit system. It was originally targeted to open in May 2018; the construction group also missed handover dates of Nov. 2, 2018, and March 31 of this year.
