RTG's Lauch testifies he was approached by city to change LRT trial run criteria

The request to change the trial running criteria to make it easier to pass came from former OC Transpo boss John Manconi, according to the former CEO of Rideau Transit Group.

The trial running of the Confederation Line has been a key theme this week at the Ottawa light rail public inquiry. The original trial, which Manconi had talked about publicly on many occasions, was supposed to see the LRT operate on a full schedule for 12 consecutive days.

But the start of the the trial running saw failure after failure, and after it became clear the Confederation Line wouldn't be passing any time soon, the scorecard was changed to an earlier, easier version.

Manconi has testified the idea of changing the criteria came from Peter Lauch, but that's not what other witnesses have said.

Lauch testified in his pre-hearing testimony that OC Transpo's Troy Charter pulled him and project construction director Matthew Slade out of a meeting in mid-August and "floated" the idea that the city was "amenable" to changing the criteria.

The formal letter about changing the LRT trial criteria came from Lauch on Aug. 16, 2019. But commission co-lead counsel Kate McGrann showed an email Lauch sent his board the day before that read the city had proposed 13 trains instead of 15, and that a successful pass would be reaching an average performance of 96 per cent on nine days out of 12, instead of 98 per cent over all 12 days.

The number of required trains for the morning launch was also being reduced to 13 from 15.

Lauch had testified that lowering the criteria had been a favour from the city to help RTG pass, but that the consortium would still be paid or not paid, as it turned out based on service of 15 trains.

"The way it was presented, and I think I said it and some correspondence, that it was essentially non-negotiable," Lauch told the commission. "With respect to our board, everyone agreed with that."

Lauch said that before being approached by the city, RTG had never asked about changing the trial test criteria.

City says completion up to RTG

In her cross-examination of Lauch, the city's lawyer Sharon Vogel asked about the processes related to the system's substantial completion and final handover to the city, making the point that the trial running was RTG's responsibility andit was up to RTG to ultimately decide when the Confederation Line was completed.

She pointed out that key elements in the handover process included a safety certificate, traffic safety justification reports, an engineering assurance safety case, a safety audit report, a testing conformance letter, and a final completion letter signed by Lauch on Aug. 26, 2019, that said the only work remaining on the LRT was "minor" and "not critical" to the public service.

"And would you agree with me that all these documents, signed and sealed by many engineers are telling the city that the system is ready and safe and reliable for revenue service?" asked Vogel.

"I would agree with that," said Lauch.

Vogel also reviewed the four times that RTG gave the city formal notice of a final completion date that the consortium then missed. However, the city lawyer didn't ask Lauch why RTG kept proposing dates most of which, in retrospect, were not reasonable.

The inquiry also heard that the city asked for 400 changes to the project, most of which were minor, although some of those changes are a "subject of dispute"said Lauch, because RTG argues they added time to the schedule.

Mayor's office asks for key to be presented

Commission co-lead counselMcGrann asked Lauch about his relationship with people at the city. The former RTG executive said that "99 per cent of the time it was very professional," and that he worked well with city rail managers working directly on the project, including Steve Cripps, Michael Morgan and Richard Holder.

But Lauch conceded there were some tense exchanges with Manconi and in his pre-hearing testimony said he "learned some new words" from the former city transit manager, in particular when things were going poorly.

In one instance after a terrible launch of the public LRT service, Lauch said Manconi called him and said, "I'm going to bury you guys now."

But when McGrann asked if these "visceral" outbursts occurred periodically, Lauch agreed but added, "I would also say infrequent. It wasn't the standard."

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The city has set Sept. 14 as the launch date for the Confederation Line?

The inquiry also heard that Lauch was called by the city's communications department on Aug. 23 to present Mayor Jim Watson with a symbolic key at the LRT handover ceremony that day.

"Our first reaction was, where are we going to find a key at this short notice," Lauch said. "In any event, it was unnecessary because the city told us they had one."