LRT to be completed by end of March, RTG says

The Confederation LRT Line will be handed over to the City of Ottawa bythe end of March and should beready to roll by the end of April, according to newestimates provided by the consortium building the $2.1-billion light-railsystem.

Rideau Transit Group (RTG) provided its new completion schedule to the citytoday, after requesting an extra day to come up with the date.

• LRT won't be ready to roll until 2019
• LRT delays costing the city an extra $25M so far

The consortium now promisesto deliver the line to the city onor before March 31, 2019. After it's finished, the city said it would need to get itready for passengers andthatit would be open within a month of getting the keys.

RTG's announcementcomes after two failed attempts to meet earlierdeadlines to complete the line, which runs from Blair Station to Tunney's Pasture.

Firm date means firm penalty

While the new timeline isn't much morespecific than earlierreportsthat it would be finished in the first quarter of 2019,a firm date is still important. It means that if the company fails to finish the work, the City of Ottawacan withhold another $1 million payment from the consortium as a penalty.

RTGwas originally supposed to deliver the LRT system last May, but in February the city announced the date would be pushed back six months to Nov. 2.

When that second deadline was missed, the city withheld the firstmillion dollars as apenalty.

To avoid that happening again, the consortium must complete all construction, deliver alllight rail vehicles, and carry outthe prescribed safety and compliance testing by the end of March.

'I've been proven wrong before'

Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said he believes RTG's claim thatit will all come together by March 31.

Leiper said the delay in firming up the delivery date for the new system may have been the result of the city and the consortiumtrying to findan achievable deadline.

He acknowledged, however, thathe was optimistic about the last deadline too.

"While I've been proven wrong before, I do believe they are going to meet this date," Leiper said.

The delays have cost taxpayers approximately$25 million so far, which the city hopes to recoup from RTG.