UPDATE: Line 1 service was restored at approximately 9:20 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, as conveyed in a communication from Rami El Faghali, the city’s director of transit bus operations and maintenance.
An overhead wire issue on the east end of Line 1 disrupted O-Train services on Friday, leading to platform closures and the deployment of replacement buses. By 8 p.m. on Sunday, Line 1 operations were limited between Tunney’s Pasture and Tremblay stations, with R1 bus service running between Hurdman and Blair stations. Repair work was scheduled to continue overnight, as announced by OC Transpo shortly before 6 p.m. on Friday.
A damaged component in the overhead power wire system was identified between St-Laurent and Cyrville around 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, causing a train to halt. This resulted in the suspension of train services east of St-Laurent earlier in the day.
In a memo sent out at 3:10 p.m., transit services general manager Rick Leary had initially anticipated the resumption of regular Line 1 service at the beginning of service hours on Friday, which was delayed. Subsequent communication at 7:40 a.m. on Friday revealed that more damage than expected was discovered, with repairs set to resume in the evening following the peak hours. Pending clearance from inspectors, regular service was anticipated to resume on Saturday, although a later memo omitted mention of the Saturday target.
The LRT’s overhead catenary system, utilizing hanging wires to supply electric power for the trains, experienced issues in the past following freezing rain or lightning events, with the exact cause not always identified. OC Transpo has not yet provided an explanation for the most recent damage.