Ottawa Transit Commission Approves $75M Fleet Safety Upgrades for O-Train LRT System

OTTAWA, ON — The Ottawa Transit Commission voted on Tuesday to approve a $75 million comprehensive fleet and infrastructure modernization program for the O-Train Confederation Line, finalizing permanent technical remedies for historic axle-bearing assembly issues and winter switch reliability.

Permanent Axle-Bearing Redesign and Wheel Profiling

The engineering retrofit replaces the light rail vehicle wheel-hub assemblies across all 45 Alstom Citadis Spirit trainsets with a newly engineered, heavy-duty cartridge bearing design developed by rail engineering specialists. The new configuration eliminates excess mechanical vibration on tight curved track segments between Tremblay and Hurdman stations.

Real-time trackside acoustic monitoring sensors will be deployed along the alignment to detect early bearing wear before component degradation occurs, preventing unexpected service halts.

Winter Resilience and High-Capacity Switch Heaters

The capital package also upgrades track infrastructure with high-efficiency forced-air gas switch heaters and electrical contact line de-icing systems to prevent freezing rain and heavy snowfall from disabling track switches during harsh Ottawa winter storms.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe stated that resolving historical LRT technical deficiencies is the city's highest transit priority, ensuring capital commuters and transit riders experience reliable, predictable public transportation.

Cost-Sharing and Warranty Settlement

City officials confirmed that $45 million of the modernization package is funded through warranty settlement agreements with Rideau Transit Group (RTG) and the vehicle manufacturer, with the remaining balance covered under federal-provincial transit infrastructure funds.