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Draft:Rideau Transit Group

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  • Comment: References are mainly general announcements and brief mentions, falling short of WP:ORGCRIT. This also needs cleaned up for tone as things such as an entire section for key people is unencyclopedic and is promotional. CNMall41 (talk) 20:29, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
Rideau Transit Group
Company typePublic-Private Partnership
IndustryTransportation Equipment Manufacturing - NAICS Classification: 336[1]
FoundedJanuary 14, 2013 (2013-01-14) in Ottawa, Canada
Founders
Headquarters
Ottawa
,
Canada
Area served
Ottawa
ProductsLight Rail Transit
Parent
Websitertg-rtm.com

Rideau Transit Group, also known as RTG, is a consortium of companies formed as a Public-Private Partnership between ACS Infrastructure Canada, EllisDon, and AtkinsRéalis (previously known as SNC-Lavalin). The Rideau Transit Group was formed for to oversee the design, building, financing and maintenance of the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Project.

Formation

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In June 2011, the City of Ottawa solicited bids for the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Project (OLRT), currently known as the Phase 1 of the Confederation Line.[2] The following month, the City of Ottawa voted to proceed with the Ottawa light rail transit project after some adjustments to the downtown tunnel path.[3] In October 2011, the City of Ottawa and Infrastructure Ontario announced the shortlisted proposals from three consortia of companies for the designing, building, financing and maintenance of the OLRT. The Rideau Transit Group consortia was selected over the two other consortia, Rideau Transit Partners and Ottawa Transit Partners. The Rideau Transit Group consortia bid was formed by the following companies:[4]

The RTG includes the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Constructors (OLRT-C) consortium which was in charge of the construction of the LRT line and maintenance/storage facilities as a design-build joint venture. The OLRT-C consortium included Dragados Canada, SNC-Lavalin, and EllisDon. The OLRT-C hired designers and architects for the LRT line (as part of a joint venture called RTG Engineering Joint Venture-RTGEJV). They also hired subcontractors Alstom and Thales for the vehicle and systems design.[5]

The RTG also includes the Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM) consortium.[5] RTM was awarded the 30-year maintenance contract for the LRT system worth over 1 billion dollars, which began in 2019 when the train started running.[5][6][7] On paper however, the RTG is a separate entity from the Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM),[1][8] but RTM is formed by the same three companies as a general partnership.[5] Alstom, the vehicle designer, was also selected as the maintainer by RTM for the train line in 2016.[9] As such, more two thirds of over 200 employees working for RTM originally were employees of Alstom.[5]

Phase 2 of the OLRT Project

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In 2017, the Ottawa City Council determined that the Phase 2 expansion of the Confederation Line would be undertaken by RTG under similar design, building, financing and maintenance terms as for Phase 1. They established that the contract extension with RTG would be of similar risk and would facilitate the extension as the same company that built phase 1 would simply extend the existing network.[10] The Phase 2 expansion of the Trillium Line was awarded to a different consortium, TransitNext.[11]

Public Criticism and Contractual Problems

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After a sinkhole occurred on rideau street in 2016 after tunneling activities had begun, the relationship between the City of Ottawa and RTG became strained. The sinkhole caused project delays which led the possibility of fines against RTG. The two parties disagreed on the cause of the sinkhole. The city blamed tunneling by RTG while RTG believed the sinkhole was caused by an improperly installed joint on a fire hydrant that was relocated for the project. The city also filed default notices against RTG in March 2020 and September 2021 for issues with the rail line not performing properly in cold or snowy conditions as well as two train derailments. Following a public inquiry into issues with the transit system in 2022, a settlement was reached to end the dispute.[12][13] The city's attempt to break the 30-year contract with RTG also ended with the settlement.

Peter Launch was the CEO of the company leading the partnership between the three founding companies before he resigned in 2020. Following the public and city criticism, his resignation on July 10, 2020 was announced June 22, 2020.[14]

During July and August 2023, the Confederation line was closed for 28 days after an issue was discovered with a bearing on a train during a routine inspection.[15] The root cause of the problem was revealed as the design of the axle-bearing assembly on the trains.[16] The City of Ottawa and RTG agreed that Alstom, the vehicle's designer and manufacturer, should redesign the axle assembly to fix the problem permanently.[17][18] However, Alstom believed that the root cause of the problem could be fixed without a whole redesign and refused to work on a redesign in early 2024.[17][18] This conclusion was rejected by RTG, causing further friction between the parties.[17][18] In late 2024, Alstom agreed to resume work on the redesign of the axle assembly and permanently fix the problem.[17] It was announced that years of design and testing would be required.[17]

In addition to the several incidents that were heavily mediatized, there were also a long list of incidents related to the O-train line 1 that were reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada including 19 derailments, 22 collisions, and 2 instances of damage (as of October 2024).[19] Not all these instances are attributable to RTG, but several were caused by issues related to maintenance and/or poor design of the vehicles.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ontario Buisness Registry - RIDEAU TRANSIT GROUP GENERAL PARTNERSHIP (230047037) [General Partnership]". Ontario Buisness Registry Search. Government of Ontario. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  2. ^ Foley, Amanda. "RFQs called for Ottawa LRT". Tunnelling Journal. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  3. ^ Thomas, Tris (15 July 2011). "Ottawa Council green light for LRT". Tunnelling Journal. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  4. ^ Thomas, Tris (21 October 2011). "Ottawa LRT Shortlist Announced". Tunnelling Journal. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Rideau Transit Group. "About Us". Rideau Transit Group. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  6. ^ Chianello, Joanne (8 February 2020). "City paid LRT contractor $4.5M despite claims to the contrary". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  7. ^ Chianello, Joanne; Porter, Kate (22 January 2020). "City's hands tied by LRT maintenance contract". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Ontario Buisness Registry - RIDEAU TRANSIT MAINTENANCE GENERAL PARTNERSHIP (230052565)". Ontario Buisness Registry Search. Government of Ontario. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  9. ^ Alstom (1 September 2016). "Alstom to maintain Ottawas light rail transit system". Alstom. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Contract Award of Ottawa's Stage 2 Light Rail Transit Projects and Related Matters (ACS2019-TSD-OTP-0001)" (PDF). www.glengower.ca/. 27 February 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  11. ^ Bayward Bulletin (5 March 2020). "City procurement documents for Stage 2 LRT Trillium Line confirm compliant process". www.baywardbulletin.ca/. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  12. ^ Tran, Cindy (27 January 2023). "City of Ottawa, transit group reach settlement over LRT contract dispute". Global News. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  13. ^ Chianello, Joanne (6 February 2023). "LRT Settlement gives builders millions in back pay, keeps their contract". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  14. ^ CBC News (22 June 2020). "CEO of Rideau Transit Group steps down". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  15. ^ Pringle, Josh (13 August 2023). "OC Transpo gives the green light for full O-Train service to resume on Monday". CTV News. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  16. ^ Ottawa Council, committees and City Hall - Parking, roads, traffic and transit (13 April 2024). "Transit Commission receives updates on wheel bearing issue and severe weather incidents affecting O-Train services". City of Ottawa Newsroom Archive. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ a b c d e Skura, Elyse (12 September 2024). "Alstom resuming work to redesign troublesome LRT bearing". CBC News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  18. ^ a b c Pringle, Josh. "Alstom hits the brakes on redesigning axles on Ottawa's LRT vehicles". CTV News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  19. ^ OCTranspo. "O-Train Line 1 reporting to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada". octranspo.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
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