Derailment video shown to LRT public inquiry on final day of hearings

On the final day of testimony at the public inquiry investigating Ottawa's light rail system, the commission saw videoof the incident that arguably led to it all in the first place: a derailed train pulling out of Tremblay Station latelast summer,spewing stones onto the platform.

In addition to that view, which had not previously been shown to the public, a second closed-circuit camera captured Rideau Transit Maintenance's maintenance manager, who happened to be on that train and disembarked at the station after hearing a sound.

The OC Transpo operator didn't notice the train had derailed, however, so the vehicletravelled another 1,400 feet with 12 passengers on boardbefore going off the tracks.

The derailment the second in two months shut down the rail spine of Ottawa's public transit system from Sept.19to Nov. 11 of 2021and led the City of Ottawa to issue Rideau Transit Group a second notice of default for not living up to its contract.

• LRT shut down again after 2nd train derailment since August
• TSB finds 'incomplete maintenance' caused Ottawa LRT derailment

The Transportation Safety Board concluded last November thatan Alstommaintenance employee had not properly torqued a bolt on the wheel hub before a shift change.

"This accident has demonstrated that there can be serious consequences resulting from the inconsistent and incomplete maintenance of safety-critical components on a [light rail vehicle]in commuter passenger service," wrote TSB's former director of rail investigations, Paul Treboutat. (Treboutathas since been hired as OC Transpo's chief safety officer.)

Lawyers for the Ottawa Light Rail Commission, which was created by the provincial government to investigateOttawa'sLRT, havenot spent much time questioning witnesses about the Septemberderailment during thefour weeks of hearings.

Instead, it was an external lawyer for the City of Ottawa and a lawyer for the train's manufacturer and maintenance subcontractor,Alstom, who introduced the two videos on Thursday morning.

Theypresented different camera angles of theTremblay Station platform,in order to make two very different arguments.

Operator distracted by feces odour

Michael Valo,Alstom's lawyer, had spoken earlier in the week about the City of Ottawa's ownincident report the dayof the September derailment, when questioning Troy Charter, the city's director of transit operations.

The radio transcriptshowed the driver was "distracted andtalking to the control room about the smell of human feces on the train while he was dwelling at Tremblay Station," Valo described.

Charter disagreed the operator was distracted, even asValo suggested the driver's cab window was open and he should have heard the ballast being kicked onto the western platform, the vehicle scrapingand the gearbox falling off.

Valoagain brought up the idea of driver distraction on Thursday while questioningMario Guerra, the CEO of Rideau Transit Maintenance, to which Alstom is subcontracted, but this timeshowed video.

The operator should have noticed the problem and stopped the vehicle sooner, Guerra testified, which would have minimized the significantdamage further along the track. The operator should have seen dust on his cameras, he added.

Maintenance director disembarks

Lawyers for the City of Ottawa, however, have twice suggested RTM'sown maintenance director could have done more.

Steven Nadon happened to be on board that day, and he described the coincidence in hiswitness interview with public inquiry lawyers inApril.

"I had my family on there, mygrandchildren,just going for a joy ride. Wewere taking the train and it was the first time on the train, they were excited," he said then.

"Between St. Laurent and Tremblay, I had heard a clinging sound beneath me and I thought a cable had come loose, or something was dragging. So I told my wife, we're going to get off at the next station because I don't think this train is going to make it to our final destination,it's going to get pulled out ofservice."

WATCH | City lawyer questions why RTM maintenance manager didn't do more

CEO of Rideau Transit Maintenance faces questions

2 years ago

Duration 1:58

Mario Guerra questioned by lawyer Catherine Gleason-Mercier about the actions of Steven Nadon, the maintenance manager for RTM, just before the derailment.

At the hearings on Thursday, a lawyer from the firm hired by the City of Ottawa played the video that showed Nadon getting off, and pulling out his phone.

"He didn't take any actions to stop this train. He didn't hit the passenger emergency intercom, did he?He didn't put his foot in the door to stop the train?" asked Catherine Gleason-Mercier, in a line of questioning similar to what her colleague had put to Charter earlier in the week.

Guerra said there was no reason he should take such steps, and expected Nadontook out his phone in order to flag a problem.

Nadon had indeedmentioned in his own earlier interview thathe called the control centre to saythe train needed to be taken out ofservice.

"As it departed,it kicked ballast up all over the platform. Immediately I knew it had been derailed," Nadon had said.