Ottawa LRT to close on weekends for maintenance work

• UPDATE: On Nov. 5, 2024, OC Transpoannounced it still needed to complete required rail grinding work and there would be additional service disruptions.The changes are now reflected in the story.

Ottawa transit riders travelling from Blair to Tremblaystation may need to use replacement buses onweekends and some late nightsas OC Transpo works a series of scheduled repairs and upgrades to the rail line.

OC Transpo memos announced that maintenance will impact servicebetween Saturday, Oct.19 and Sunday, Nov. 10.

The R1 replacementbus service will operate during closures.

Here are the affected times:

• Oct.19 and 20: Line 1 will be partially closed for the weekend. The train will runfrom Tunney's Pasture to Tremblay station and R1 buses will service Hurdman to Blair stations.
• Oct.22 and 23 and Oct. 29 and 30: After 11 p.m.,Line 1 will be partially closed, only running from Tunney's Pasture station to uOttawastation. The R1 will serviceRideau station to Blair station.
• Oct.26 and 27 and Nov.2 and 3: Full closure of Line 1. R1 will run from Tunney's Pasture station to Blair station.
• Nov. 7: Line 1 will partially close early at 11 p.m. between Tunney's Pasture and Hurdman stations. The R1 will run between those stations for the rest of the evening.
• Nov. 10: Line 1 will partially close from8 a.m. to 11 p.m. between Blair and uOttawa stations. The R1 will run betweenRideau and Blair stations. A shuttle bus is available between Cyrville and St-Laurent stations, and between Lees station and Mackenzie King Bridge.

During the Oct. 19 to Nov. 3closures, Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) will be conducting ballast stabilization work between Hurdman and Tremblay stations and rail-grinding across the entire line.

On Nov. 7 and 10, RTM will complete required rail grinding work that was not finished during the earlier closures.

Rail-grinding removes corrugation and leads to smoother transitions when entering and exiting turns, according to an October OC Transpo update.

Additional outstanding work will be done during the closures, such as the Ontario Structure Inspection Manualinspection of the St-Laurent tunnel.