The City of Edmonton announced Wednesday that the LRT line extension to NAIT would open in early 2015.
The line was originally meant to open in the spring of 2014, but opening was pushed to the end of the year as the contractor was taking long than expected to finish the signaling system for the line.
City officials said Wednesday that progress was being made, but the line wouldn’t open until the New Year.
“We share in the disappointment of many Edmontonians that the line won’t open in 2014,” Dorian Wandzura, General Manager for Transportation Services said in a press release. “It’s going to take several more weeks to ensure that this complex system is working properly so it can safely manage the flow of trains and traffic.”
At this point, officials said enough LRT trains have been upgraded with new signaling system hardware to support the new line, and simulation tests on the system software have been completed. Testing has started on the trains and tracks, mostly outside of service hours, with thousands of different scenarios being tested.
The contractor, Thales Transportation Solutions, echoed the City’s frustration.
“We’re very disappointed that we’ve incurred this delay,” Mario Peloquin with Thales Transportation Solutions said.
“The company is doing everything in its power to execute this project as quickly and safely as possible.”
The City said testing will continue until the line is handed over to the City from the contractor, once it is working properly, the city will start staff training on the new system, along with final preparations.
When it opens, the Metro Line will service NAIT, the Royal Alexandra Hospital and MacEwan University with the rest of the LRT network. It’s expected to add 13,200 riders to the network.
With files from Bill Fortier
