Copper theft shuts down O-Train

Copper thieves have once again forced the shutdown of O-Train service on the Trillium Line,OC Transpo has confirmed.

The line has been out of commission since 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Ottawa police are investigating.

OC Transpowon't say exactly where the theft of valuable copper cable occurred because it doesn't want to encourage copycats.

"We've had occurrences where graffiti and those types of things occur, but nothing of this magnitude," saidTroy Charter, OC Transpo's director of transit operations, by phone Wednesday. "There has been one other occurrence that has impacted service like we're seeing yesterday and into today."

That incident also a copper theft occurredin March 2017.

OC Transpo has been slowly replacing the above-ground poles that carriedthe copper signal cable, and Tuesday's theft occurred at the last such pole still standing.

"At the end of this year, we will have addressed that last final location where this exists," Chartersaid.

'Highly dangerous'

Charter didn't know how much cable was stolen, but said it was a "highly dangerous" crime that must have required some "pretty robust tools" to pull off.

"You're cutting through a fairly significantpiece of copper wire to get this. It's not something you can just pull apart with your hands," he said.

"The system and the safety system functioned as intended. Immediately, once we lost that communication the trains came to a complete stop."

OC Transpo'swebsitesaid service is expected to resume Wednesdaybut Charter didn't want to give an estimated time, saying that the cable has been replacedbut "hours" of testing are requiredto get trains up and running again.

O-Train service is beingtemporarily replaced by Route 107 buses running roughly parallel to the Trillium Line, which extends fromBayviewtoSouth Keys stations.

Transit users can find other route options at the OC Transpo website.

Schedules are also available by calling 613-560-1000 or texting 560560 plus the bus stop number.