This is the third and final weekend of planned closures on the Confederation Line this fall, as OC Transpo and Rideau Transit Group tackle rippling rails on the east-west LRT line, five years old.

“It was a little difficult. I just had to get to Rideau from here and I didn’t realize it would be a 40-minute wait for the bus versus five minutes for the train,” Sinatrio said Raharjo Saturday.

The Confederation Line has been closed late at night and on weekends since Saturday, October 19. The O-Train was closed between Hurdman and Blair stations on the weekend of October 19 and 20 and the entire LRT line was out of service on the weekends of October 26 and 27 and November 2 and 3.

Full, uninterrupted service is expected to resume Monday.

The Transportation Commission learned last month that rail grinding would address rail waviness. Staff said: “Removing ripples improves the efficiency of top-of-rail and wheel flange lubrication systems. » OC Transpo hopes the work will lead to “smoother transitions entering and exiting curves.”

Crews also carried out ballast improvement work between Hurdman and Tremblay stations.

“We know this is routine, planned maintenance. This is not an unexpected LRT outage,” the councilor said. » declared Stéphanie Plante on Saturday.

“We know we need to have our LRT in tip-top shape by the winter season because we need a reliable transit system. We need people to take public transportation, and we need our public transportation to get people where they need to go.

Plante says everyone is “hoping, fingers crossed, that everything will go well in the months to come.”

The councilor for Rideau-Vanier, which includes the University of Ottawa, says there have been no complaints about the R1 service operating on weekends.

While some passengers are frustrated by the long journeys, others say the trip was smooth with the R1 replacement bus service.

“The frequency of buses is also good,” said Mahnaz Kaze. “I just missed one, but in about two minutes I’ll have another one.”

One passenger said the bus service was “good”.

“I mean, it hasn’t been that bad because the buses are regular every day, four or five minutes, I think. So it hasn’t been difficult.”

There have been several shutdowns on the O-Train line this year for maintenance and work in preparation for the launch of Phase 2 eastbound in 2025.

The Confederation Line was partially closed in the west between July 15 and 28 for planned maintenance work, which included work to address water seepage in the downtown tunnel.

In May, Saint-Laurent station was closed for five days after water infiltration into the tunnel caused damage to the ceiling slabs of the LRT station platforms.

O-Train Line 1 was out of service on Sunday, August 25 between Saint-Laurent and Blair stations due to work on phase 2. The O-Train was also closed on September 29 and October 5 for work on phase 2. eastern extension of Blair station to Tenth Line Road.

With files from Toula Mazloum of CTV News Ottawa