UPDATE: Line 1 service resumed at approximately 9:20 a.m. on Saturday, August 15, as confirmed by Rami El Faghali, the city’s director of transit bus operations and maintenance in a council memo.
An overhead wire issue caused platform closures and replacement bus services on the eastern section of Line 1 of the O-Train on Friday. By 8 p.m. Sunday, Line 1 was operating between Tunney’s Pasture and Tremblay stations, with R1 bus service running between Hurdman and Blair stations to facilitate necessary repair work expected to continue overnight.
A damaged component on the overhead power wire system between St-Laurent and Cyrville was identified at 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, leading to a train halt, according to a memo by transit services general manager Rick Leary. Initially, no trains were running beyond St-Laurent.
Despite initial plans for Line 1 to resume regular service at the beginning of Friday, delays occurred due to more extensive damage found than anticipated, with repairs scheduled to resume after the afternoon peak. Pending inspections’ approval, regular service was targeted to resume on Saturday.
Notably, the LRT’s overhead catenary system, utilizing hanging wires for electric current supply to the trains, has faced challenges in the past, often attributed to freezing rain or lightning. However, the cause of the latest damage has not been attributed to weather conditions by OC Transpo yet.