Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Ottawa and Rideau Transit Group (RTG) have reached a settlement that resolves several issues and “resets their relationship to focus on the delivery of safe and reliable transit service to the people of Ottawa,” the city said in a statement. Through this agreement, Ottawa and RTG will “move forward with the goal of improved collaboration and partnership as recommended in the OLRT Public Inquiry Commission Report.”
The settlement agreement:
- resolves the Notice of Default that arose following the Aug. 8 and Sept. 19, 2021 derailments through RTG’s acknowledgement of the default and the city’s confirmation of the immediate cure based on RTG’s rigorous plan to address the issues that led to the derailments and come to a sustainable resolution of the axle bearing assembly issue.
- The city acknowledges the work RTG has done and will continue to do to ensure the people of Ottawa receive safe and reliable service on O-Train Line 1 and will continue to monitor RTG’s progress.
- RTG is committed to achieving a sustainable resolution of these issues for all O-Train Line 1 light rail vehicles before the opening of the Stage 2 East extension. In addition, RTG has and will continue to implement various interim mitigation measures to ensure the reliability of O-Train Line 1.
According to the statement, Ottawa and RTG have also settled several disputes concerning RTG’s performance during the maintenance phase and the city’s administration of the contract during the maintenance phase.
“The city and RTG have been working collaboratively and cooperatively together for many months on the development of a rigorous Implementation plan and resolution of both the default and maintenance disputes.” Collaborative work began prior to the release of the commission report.
The settlement demonstrates both parties’ acknowledgement of the importance of cooperation, which the commission report urged, and demonstrates both parties’ ongoing commitment to the public interest in delivering safe and reliable train service on O-Train Line 1.
“This agreement builds on the work already done to improve the system and reflects a number of recommendations from the commission report,” the city stated.
