News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.4K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 39K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 4.7K     0 

At this point I don't think such a proposal would be that bold. Barrhaven might be marginally tougher sell because of the section between Baseline station and Hunt Club. Even then I am sure most people would be in agreement that getting those sections done would make a lot of sense.

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.

Your right. The current location of the train station is an issue. But it will also have to be corrected at some point. My own guess (based on nothing substantial I will admit) is that this will be solved with a mega-project that combines a new interprovincial tunnel connection under King Edward (the so-called truck tunnel), with a new transit tunnel that would provide interprovincial regional rail/local rail. Somewhere around the Rideau/Cumberland area (close to the Rideau LRT station) you would have a new, underground, commuter rail station.

Right now that may seem like a totally way out there idea. But, given the future transit needs of Gatineau, the need for a more efficient inter-provincial transit connection, the truck tunnel (which is likely the only interprovincial vehicle crossing that would not have local opposition trying to crush it at every move), and regional rail on the Ottawa side, this will make a lot of sense in 10 years time. Will it be cheap? God no. And the only way it works is if the Feds take a key, if not leading, role in it all. The region as a whole though is growing and changing in a way that everyday it makes just a bit more sense until one day it becomes clear that this is just what they need to do (much in the same way that one day the lightbulb went off for the majority of people in the GTA and suddenly RER'ing and electrification of the GO network just suddenly made sense).

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.
 
Last edited:
The easiest way to bring rail back into the core would probably be a cut and cover rail tunnel underneath Colonel By to link up with the old Union Station. Colonel By is not a particularly critical traffic link so it could stand being closed for a year or two.
 
The easiest way to bring rail back into the core would probably be a cut and cover rail tunnel underneath Colonel By to link up with the old Union Station. Colonel By is not a particularly critical traffic link so it could stand being closed for a year or two.

I've considered this option as well. Unfortunately, the soil conditions may not make it easy. The original plan for the Confederation Line was to have an underground station at UOttawa, but the soil conditions forced the tunnel portal back to near Laurier. And even pushing it back to there, they had to dig through a couple hundred metres of less than ideal soil, which subsequently caused a partial cave-in. Apparently it's called Sandy Hill for a reason, hahaha.
 
I envison a shallow cut and cover underneath Colonel By.. that would be easier to do through sandy/unstable soils than a bored tunnel like the Confederation Line is.
 
I envison a shallow cut and cover underneath Colonel By.. that would be easier to do through sandy/unstable soils than a bored tunnel like the Confederation Line is.

That would probably work well.

On an unrelated note, construction is really progressing at Pimisi Station now. The support columns for the Booth St Bridge are going up on either side of the existing Transitway, and the hole for the station itself is getting pretty big. They've also shifted traffic on Albert from the south side to the recently completed north side. They're going to be doing the same type of work on the south side now. Also, was driving along the Queensway around the Vanier Parkway yesterday and noticed that the middle span of the bridge over the Rideau is nearly finished. The tall wall has been installed and everything. Certainly looks on track to be up and running by June 29th (the date of the shutdown of the East Transitway).
 
Someone at the City or Rideau Transit Group must have finally issued a press release about this, because on Friday the papers ran news about it:
"the first official rail track was installed for the $2.1 billion O-Train Confederation light rail transit project."
http://www.orleansstar.ca/News/Local/2015-06-19/article-4188289/One-step-closer-for-LRT/1
 
Ask and ye shall receive (in an election year)

Federal Tories pledge $1 billion for Ottawa's rail plans
The federal government is ready to give Ottawa $1 billion for its light-rail plans, Orléans MP Royal Galipeau told Mayor Jim Watson in a letter Wednesday.

With an election due this fall and Tory poll numbers sagging along with federal finances, Conservative members of Parliament have been busily promising support for local projects from coast to coast.

But a billion-dollar transit pledge for Ottawa’s “Stage 2″ rail plan stands out from the libraries and marinas, highway interchanges and sewage systems. The city estimates it’ll cost $3 billion. The plan counts on each level of government covering a third.

“Our intent to contribute to Stage 2 reflects our understanding that Canada’s largest cities depend on public transit infrastructure to fight gridlock, reduce congestion for people and businesses, and support economic development,” Galipeau’s letter says.

The money will depend on agreements on specific projects, based on detailed applications the city hasn’t filed yet.
...
 
I feel like no matter which party comes to power after the election Ottawa will see a good dose of funding for their transit plans.

Given that phase 2 is pretty much a lock it will be interesting to see what phase 3 brings. There are certainly way more questions and scenarios up in the air on that which makes sense. I do hope some kind of forward thinking planning is done towards interprovincial transit in the next phase but I really don't see that happening yet. That will probably have to get a lot worse and become a much bigger problem before they seriously tackle it.
 
I feel like no matter which party comes to power after the election Ottawa will see a good dose of funding for their transit plans.

Given that phase 2 is pretty much a lock it will be interesting to see what phase 3 brings. There are certainly way more questions and scenarios up in the air on that which makes sense. I do hope some kind of forward thinking planning is done towards interprovincial transit in the next phase but I really don't see that happening yet. That will probably have to get a lot worse and become a much bigger problem before they seriously tackle it.

I think in order for Interprovincial transit to really happen there needs to be simultaneous investment on both sides of the border. If you bring rail 1 stop over the Prince of Wales bridge into Gatineau, I don't think that solves very much beyond a token "here, now you have a connection to Ottawa". If LRT is going to be brought over to Gatineau, it will need to duplicate what is being done in Ottawa, where the Transitway gets an upgrade to LRT. That won't happen in Gatineau for a while.

As for Phase 3, I think it will include 3 main items: Electrification of the Trillium Line, extension of the Confederation Line to Kanata, and extension of the other branch of the Confederation Line to Barrhaven.

As an aside, I'd like to see the branch services of the Confederation Line be named the Confederation Line (Kanata-Orleans) and the Bytown Line (Barrhaven-Hurdman), respectively.
 

Back
Top