OC Transpo confirms rail crossing signal failure last week

OC Transpo's general manager has confirmed there was a signal malfunction Friday at the same rail crossing near Fallowfield Station in Barrhaven where six people died in a bus-train crash last year.

John Manconi, general manager for OC Transpo, said the City of Ottawa reported an issue to Via Rail and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in the morning of Feb. 14.

Then in the afternoon that same day, Via Rail requested a temporary shutdown of theTransitwaynear the crossing nearWoodroffeAvenue andFallowfieldRoad.

Later that day, a Via Rail spokesperson said the closure was for a simple concrete repair, not a signal problem.

Manconi said the closure was indeed for a signal malfunction, the second in four days.

On Feb. 11, an OC Transpo bus driver reported one of the signals at the crossing was flashing but no train was in sight.

At that same rail crossing in September 2013, an OC Transpo bus struck a moving Via Rail passenger train killing six people.

The TSB continues to investigate that crash.