City of Ottawa reports ‘minor’ derailment incident involving rail car mover at OC Transpo’s Belfast yard
Posted Jan 21, 2022 03:22:23 PM.
The City of Ottawa's Transit Services department is reporting a 'minor incident' involving a piece of equipment at its LRT maintenance and storage facility on Belfast Road.
The department's leadership team director Duane Duquette says a rail car mover, which is used to move train cars around the yard, was travelling at a low-speed when it derailed due to a misaligned switch.
“It travelled over a switch that was not properly aligned for its route, causing a set of wheels to leave the track,” Duquette explained in a memo to council.
An inspection found no damage to the switch, rails or equipment and the switch was put back into service shortly after the investigation.
Duquette says no light rail trains were involved in the incident, which had no impact on service on the O-Train line, but as is standard procedure, the incident has been reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
The incident will be documented as part of the TSB's reporting process, though no further follow-up is expected from the safety board.
The city and its maintenance contractor, Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM), will further review what happened to determine if any remedial actions or processes are required.
In November 2021, two LRT cars were involved in an incident at the maintenance yard. (link)
