Whether by car, bus, or train, commuters had to deal with the devastation caused by one of the winter’s most powerful storms on Thursday, when 14 centimetres of snow and 12 millimetres of rain fell on Ottawa and the surrounding region over 24 hours.
While Environment Canada dropped its snowfall warning by mid-afternoon, agency meteorologist Gerald Cheng predicted more stormy spring weather.
The Ottawa Police Service reported more than 28 crashes during the morning commute as of around 9 a.m. By the late afternoon commute, that figure had increased to more than 90, or roughly three times the amount of collisions on a normal day.
Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo’s general manager, said in a memo to Ottawa’s mayor and city councillors that wet snow and a fast temperature decrease could have caused a train to stop on the Confederation Line around 6:10 a.m.
Amilcar stated that a “technical issue” caused a westbound train to stop near Bayview Station.
“When the operator could not resolve it, technicians were dispatched for further troubleshooting. During this time, Line 1 continued to operate with single-track service between Tunney’s Pasture and Lyon stations. Customers were required to transfer at Lyon Station to continue their trips,” the memo said.
The train was removed from the line, and full service resumed around 9:30 a.m., Amilcar said. Rideau Transit Maintenance, which oversees LRT system maintenance, was investigating, she added, and initially believed the weather “may have impacted the affected train’s communications-based train control system.”
Meanwhile, paramedics confirmed that they were dispatched to a crash Thursday morning when an OC Transpo double-decker bus crashed into a ditch on Frank Kenny Road in Navan. One individual was treated on the spot for minor injuries.
Amilcar stated that the bus operator reported the collision shortly after 6:40 a.m. There were no passengers on board, and no other vehicles were engaged, she said.
