In addition to this view, which has not previously been shown to the public, a second CCTV camera captured the Rideau Transit Maintenance operator, who happened to be on that train and got off at the station after hearing a sound.
However, the OC Transpo operator did not notice that the train had derailed, so the vehicle traveled another 1,400 feet with 12 passengers before derailing.
The derailment — the second in two months — shut down the rail backbone of Ottawa’s public transit system from Sept. 19 to Nov. 11, 2021, and prompted the City of Ottawa to issue a second notice of default for not responding to its contract.
The Transport Safety Board concluded last November that an Alstom maintenance worker had not properly tightened a wheel hub bolt before a shift change.
“This accident demonstrated that there can be serious consequences from inconsistent and incomplete maintenance of safety-critical components on a [light rail vehicle] in serving commuter passengers,” wrote former TSB director of rail investigations Paul Treboutat. (Treboutat has 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 investigate Ottawa’s LRT, didn’t spend much time questioning witnesses about the September derailment during four weeks of hearings.
Instead, it was an outside lawyer for the city of Ottawa and a lawyer for the train’s manufacturer and maintenance subcontractor, Alstom, who presented the two videos Thursday morning.
They presented different camera angles of the Tremblay station platform in order to make two very different arguments.
The operator is distracted by the smell of feces
Michael Valo, Alstom’s lawyer, spoke earlier in the week about the city of Ottawa’s own incident report on the day of the September derailment when he questioned Troy Charter, the city’s director of transit operations. The radio transcript showed the driver was “distracted and talking to the control room about the smell of human feces on the train while he was staying at the Tremblay station,” Valo described. Charter disagreed that the operator was distracted, even as Valo suggested the driver’s cab window was open and he should have heard the ballast being kicked on the west platform, the vehicle scraping and the transmission falling. Valo reiterated the idea of driver distraction Thursday while questioning Mario Guerra, the CEO of Rideau Transit Maintenance, which is subcontracted to Alstom, but this time he showed video. The operator should have noticed the problem and stopped the vehicle sooner, Guerra testified, which would have further minimized the significant damage along the track. The operator should have seen dust on his cameras, he added.
The maintenance manager disembarks
City of Ottawa lawyers, however, have twice suggested RTM’s maintenance manager could have done more. Steven Nanton happened to be on board that day and described the coincidence in his witness interview with public inquiry lawyers in April. “I had my family there, my grandchildren, they were just going for a joy ride. We were taking the train and it was the first time on the train, they were excited,” he said at the time. “Between St. Laurent and Tremblay, I had heard a sticking sound below me and thought a wire had come loose or something was dragging. So I said to my wife, we will get off at the next station because I don’t “I think this train will reach our final destination, it will be withdrawn from service.” WATCHES | City attorney questions why RTM maintenance manager didn’t do more
Rideau Transit Maintenance CEO takes questions
Mario Guerra was questioned by attorney Catherine Gleason-Mercier about the actions of Steven Nadon, RTM’s maintenance manager, shortly before the derailment. At Thursday’s hearings, a lawyer from the firm hired by the city of Ottawa played video of Nadon getting down and pulling out his phone. “He didn’t take any action to stop that train. He didn’t hit the passenger emergency intercom, did he? He didn’t put his foot on the door to stop the train?” asked Catherine Gleason-Mercier, in a series of questions similar to those her Charter colleague had asked earlier in the week. Guerra said there was no reason to take such steps and expected Nadon to pull out his phone to flag a problem. Nadon had actually mentioned in his own previous interview that he called the control center to say that the train had to be taken out of service. “As it was leaving, it dropped ballast all over the platform. I knew right away that it had derailed,” Nanton had said.
