Montreal City Weblog

Kate 10:25 on 2023-01-11 Permalink Reply  

• Blork 10:37 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  Ok, raise your hand if you didn’t see that coming. Failures in inclement weather are a huge problem in the Ottawa LRT (O-Train) which uses a similar design. In fact they’re just coming off a week of disruptions caused by — you guessed it — freezing rain. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-ottawa-lrt-full-service-closure-1.6708833

• PatrickC 10:40 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  Is that a problem that should have been anticipated and avoided by better design? I’m curious to know if streetcars or electric buses had that issue in the old days.

• Joey 10:53 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  @PatrickC they specifically were testing what would happen in freezing rain conditions with the proper weather-related protocol in place (“Ce jour-là, une voiture du REM a été déployée sur le tracé sans l’activation préalable du protocole lié au verglas et aux intempéries hivernales. Autrement dit, les wagons ont été mis en service sans grattoirs, qui permettent de déglacer les caténaires en mouvement.”)

• DeWolf 11:57 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  @Blork, the O-Train and REM aren’t similar at all.

  O-Train: Alstom Citadis Spirit, which is a manually operated, low-floor vehicle adapted from a street-running tram. The O-Train is the only rapid transit system using the vehicles.

  REM: Alstom Metropolis, a high-floor fully automated vehicle intended for high-capacity metro use. It is used by metro systems in Amsterdam, Singapore, Barcelona, Chennai, Sydney and Budapest.

  The only thing they have in common is that they both use catenary power.

• denpanosekai 12:51 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  Terrible article headline. Everything was done on purpose. There was no incident. They did a “worst-case scenario” test.

• mare 12:52 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  Slightly off-topic but as a designer I’m curious how such a de-icer/scraper would look and function. The overhead cable doesn’t follow the track exactly, but wiggles left and right so it doesn’t make a groove in the pantograph (I looked that up). If it’s a scraper is has to be connected to the train somehow, pushed in front of it and not get stuck at the cables the overhead cable hangs from and still be able to slide left and right. That gets complicated and fragile pretty fast. Or maybe it’s a wide ‘broom’ of strong steel wire brushes, that is, electrically insulated, attached in front of the pantograph and breaks up the ice?

  After some googling —what’s the fun in that—I found there are systems that just heat the wire with the electricity that’s already present. Smart, no ‘scraper’ needed. The REM might use something like this. https://www.san-as.com/products/railway-systems/blue-wire-overhead-wire-de-icing.html

• Blork 14:01 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  @DeWolf, I stand corrected. I was basing that on something I read over a year ago that compared the two and predicted problems with operating in cold temperatures for both systems. You’ll note that none of the other cities where REM-like trains are operating are known for their cold climates. (Maybe Budapest, a bit, but not like here AFAIK.)

• DeWolf 14:31 on 2023-01-11 Permalink

  @Blork, yes, and I suspect that’s why they decided to test the train without its de-icing capabilities, just to see what would happen. The design of the Metropolis was modified for the REM to account for snow and ice, but you’re right, none of the other cities that use them have such a harsh winter climate.

  But winter weather isn’t the cause of most O-Train issues. It’s been a nightmare since the beginning, in terms of faulty trains, bad equipment and mismanagement. Here’s a rundown of all the issues during construction and post-opening. It’s quite a list:

  https://www.tvo.org/article/ottawas-colossal-lrt-debacle-a-brief-ish-history

  Who knows what kind of issues the REM will have once it starts operating. But it would be hard to top Ottawa, which seems to be suffering from a perfect storm of problems.