OTTAWA — The city of Ottawa has a new head of its transit system to deal with the ongoing issues regarding its light rail Confederation Line.
The Ottawa Citizen reports Renee Amilcar, who spent almost 20 years with Montreal’s transit agency, began her new duties as general manager of OC Transpo on Monday — the same day the city announced the troubled light rail line will remain shut down until at least Nov. 1. When the line does return to operation, it will run no more than seven trainsets, with no idea when full operation with resume with 15 trainsets at peak periods.
The O Train line has been shut down since a Sept. 19 derailment, an incident that saw a train operate while derailed through at least one station stop before finally coming to a halt [see “TSB finds more evidence …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 8, 2021].
Amilcar, in an interview Monday, said she plans to assess the light rail situation before determining what changes are necessary.
“I will take time to see, but for sure the main goal is to restore the service for customers,” she told the newspaper. “We have to work on the reliability of the system and make sure the system will be safe.”
Amilcar replaces the retired John Manconi. She spent almost 20 years with the Société du transport de Montreal, most recently as executive director of bus services.
