In a move that appears to have taken Ottawans, City Council, and OC Transpo by surprise, RTG, the building consortium for the Confederation Line LRT, have declared for the second time this year that they will exceed the latest deadlines for the line's projected opening. Revised earlier this year to November 2018, the highly-anticipated debut of the $2.1 billion line could potentially not be ready for service until Q1 of 2019. 

LRV testing underway, image via OC Transpo

A complex project, involving the construction of thirteen new stations strung across 12.5 km of tracks, including a 2-km tunnelled central section with three stations located in the core, the Confederation Line hit a major milestone earlier this spring when the last piece of track was installed in May. 

One of the new new LRT stations under construction in August, image via OC Transpo

From this point forward, City Council and OC Transpo began to make a series of significant changes to local bus routes, both reducing key service routes that would be made redundant by the new LRT line, and redirecting remaining routes to become feeders to their new local LRT stations.  

Confederation Line Map, image via OC Transpo

Expecting a fall launch, plans now months in the making have been thrown into chaos, leaving the City and OC Transpo scrambling to figure out how to proceed in the interim as details about the delay continue to develop. What is clear, however, is the level of anger and frustration being felt at this time by all involved, riders included, critics calling for heavier penalties for RTG, along with increased accountability and transparency all around. 

Left waiting at the station? Let us know what you think of Ottawa's latest transit debacle in the comments section below!