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LRT service back to normal in Edmonton after big disruptions

EDMONTON – LRT service was back to normal on Friday morning, after a power outage caused big disruptions on Wednesday night and all day Thursday.

“The disruptions [were] the result of extensive damage to the overhead wiring on the southbound track between 95 Street and Churchill Station,” said City of Edmonton official Ken Koropeski.  “The cause of the incident is still under investigation.”

On Wednesday night, thousands of hockey fans leaving the Edmonton Oilers game at Rexall were forced to wait for bus replacement service.

READ MORE: Hockey fans wait for buses at Rexall Place after power failure on LRT line

Buses replaced the LRT in downtown Edmonton Thursday morning, where sections of both the Capital and Metro lines were down because of the outage.

During the Thursday morning commute, Edmonton transit sent out tweets saying bus replacement service would be running on the main Capital Line between the Coliseum and Corona LRT stations, and on the Metro Line/NAIT line between Kingsway and Corona.

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An extra 15 buses were dispatched to shuttle LRT riders between the shut-down stations.

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Later in the day trains on the main Capital Line began running every 10 minutes, but on the Metro Line, replacement buses were still in place from downtown to Grant MacEwan.

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WATCH: The LRT was down last night right after the Oilers game and the problems continued Thursday. Vinesh Pratap looks at the system’s challenges and reliability.

Repair crews worked Wednesday night and all day Thursday. The city had hoped to have the problem fixed by 6 p.m., however crews weren’t able to meet that deadline. After testing was done, the line was put back into full service around 11 p.m.

 

“We apologize for this inconvenience,” added Koropeski.

 

 

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