The City had made is quite clear though that Phase 2 is all they can finance within the existing debt envelope, so any future projects will need to depend on some other source of revenue. That's where my comment about additional measures comes in, because it can't simply be handled through the same financing channels as Phases 1 and 2.
Combining it with the truck tunnel is certainly an interesting idea. I still think that the terminal would need to be in Downtown though, not in the Market. That's where the bulk of ridership is going.
My vision for the N-S line through downtown is that it would enter downtown under Bank St, pass underground between the Confederation Building and the security checkpoint for the Hill, emerge from the escarpment onto a new LRT-only bridge that would cross the river diagonally to a new elevated station across the street from Portage IV. This bridge has the potential to be a real signature bridge for the capital, especially given that the backdrop for many shots of it would be Parliament Hill.
As for regional rail, there's also nothing stopping those extensions from being built as LRT instead of RER. If you look at the map above, both the western branch of the Dominion Line and the Rideau Line follow old rail ROWs. They could be extended to Carleton Place and Kemptville respectively pretty easily. The biggest challenge, no matter how you slice it, is serving the communities east of Orleans, since no former rail ROW exists. That problem would exist for regional rail as well as LRT.
Building them as LRT would solve the 'building a new hub' issue too. The current LRT vehicles are able to travel up to 100 km/h, which would be more than enough for a regional rail type of service. Putting in the tracks and power supply may cost a bit more, but when you factor in the fact that no new downtown terminal is needed, I think it comes out on top in terms of cost effectiveness.
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