Hey guys, welcome back to the channel! Today, we’re visiting yet another Canadian city
to take a look at its rapid transit system, and this time it’s the turn of our nation’s
capital city, Ottawa. Located at the border between Ontario and Quebec, Ottawa is currently
the fourth-largest city in the country, with more than 1.3 million residents in its metropolitan
area. With this moderately large population comes the need to transport them efficiently,
and Ottawa’s rapid transit needs to be on par with its status as Canada’s capital
city. We’ll take you guys through the past, present, and future of Ottawa’s rail rapid
transit in this video. Let’s get started!
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Alright, time to get back to the main content of the day.
Ottawa’s public transit is run by OC Transpo. Short for Ottawa-Carleton Transportation Commission,
OC Transpo manages all of the region’s public transit services, including two light rail
lines, 170 bus routes, as well as various other bus and paratransit services. For today’s
video though, we’ll be focusing on the light rail system in Ottawa: how it came to be,
and how it will transform in the future.
The first line that opened in Ottawa’s light rail system was the Trillium Line, or Line
2, which services the corridor from Bayview near the Ottawa River to just South of the
Prince of Wales bridge.
To be clear, the Trillium Line is often referred to as light rail, but the 40m two car articulated
Alstom Coradia trains currently used on the line are also used for regional rail purposes
in Europe. The Trillium Line started in 2001 as a pilot project that required OC Transpo
to acquire a Federal Government Waiver to operate these European style trains, which
also use a European Signalling and Train Control system known as Indusi.
The Trillium Line terminates at Bayview Station at the North, where riders can interchange
with Ottawa’s new Confederation Line, which is also known as Line 1 in official media.
The Bayview site is also the location of a major future development which is likely to
house Ottawa's tallest building at over 200m tall.
The Trillium Line’s corridor connects through the city North to South, travelling on a largely
single tracked corridor with some passing loops, in order to allow trains to pass each
other in opposite directions. The corridor connects through the Dows Lake tunnel with
stations adjacent to Dows Lake and Carleton University, South of which the line crosses
the Rideau River.
Just North of the Trillium Line’s current Terminus at Greenboro is the Walkley Yard,
which is the OMF for the Trillium Line. The Walkley Yard is directly adjacent to a freight
yard, and is off the mainline south of the Ellwood Diamond.
The Trillium Line then terminates just West of Bank Street and East of the Sawmill Creek
reservoir where connections can be made to OC Transpo’s Transitway BRT services.
Unlike Edmonton and other Western cities, Ottawa enjoys relatively frequent VIA rail
passenger services West to Toronto and East to Montreal. A station in Fallowfield in the
Northwest of Riverside South also provides some limited regional connectivity.
Intercity rail service to Ottawa operates out of Ottawa Train Station, the station offers
weather protection, a large station building, and a mix of five high and low covered platforms.
Ottawa Station is one of the nicest on Via Rail’s network.
The second line in Ottawa’s light rail system is the Confederation Line, or Line 1, which
opened just a few months ago in September of last year.
The line links from Blair road in the east, to Tunney’s Pasture employment zone in the
west in its first phase, and connects to the Trillium line at Bayview station. The line’s
opening more than doubled the previous size of the network, and brought along with it
electric vehicles, which offer more frequent and environmentally friendly service. Unlike
the Trillium Line, the Confederation Line uses Communications Based Train Control, which
allows for extremely frequent service, with the possibility of fully automated operation
in the future.
Unfortunately though, the service has been bumpy ever since it opened, with the trains
causing a lot more problems than was expected. We hope that Confederation Line will keep
being improved for the better, so it will be able to reach the standard of service it
was meant to have.
Given the massive expansion, the Confederation Line needed a major new maintenance facility
known as the Belfast Yard. The yard is located between Ottawa Station and OC Transpo headquarters
on Belfast Road, and includes maintenance shops, a train wash, and large scale train
shed to store trains; the indoor storage is a nice touch. The Belfast Yard has pulled
double duty prior to the lines opening, being used to manufacture the low floor 48 meter
Alstom Citadis LRV’s that are used on the line. Trains currently operate in two car
sets, but each train within that set can be extended with an additional segment, for a
total of 120m with 18 doors per side, which should offer some of the highest capacity
in the country.
Given the expansion needed for the network's second phase, the Belfast yard is already
being further expanded to its ultimate buildout size, which means that further phases will
require additional heavy maintenance capacity. The yard is also somewhat unique, in that
it is connected to the main line via a short tunnel between Tremblay and St. Laurent stations,
and is hence not directly adjacent to the line.
In terms of service area, the Confederation Line uniquely replaces previous “Transitway”
bus services that had some of the highest ridership in North America. The line connects
from Blair in the East across the city to the St. Laurent shopping center, Ottawa train
station, and Hurdman station, where connections can be made to transitway services South of
the Rideau River.
After crossing the Rideau River, the line passes through the University of Ottawa Lees
campus, continuing along the Rideau Canal past the University of Ottawa main campus.
Following this the line passes underground into the central subway section which provides
station connections to the Rideau and Shaw Centre, Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court,
the National Archives and numerous other downtown locations.
Following the downtown subway section the Confederation Line emerges South of the Massive
Lebreton Flats redevelopment site and the National War Museum at Pimisi station. The
Line continues on from here to reach the interchange with the Trillium Line at Bayview Station
before entering an open cut as it comes to terminate at Tunney’s Pasture.
Alright guys, so this is what Ottawa’s current rail rapid transit system looks like. We’ve
got two lines serving quite a large portion of the city, especially the downtown and the
different university campuses, with further connectivity available on the rest of the
transitway. Now, let’s shift gears, and talk about the future of Ottawa’s light rail system.
Ottawa’s Stage 2 expansion program is already under construction, and with it beginning
so soon after Line 1 opened, it means that the city will be in a sustained period of
transit expansion for over a decade.
Starting with the Trillium Line, expansions will be made to add 2 new stations and additional
passing loops to the existing corridor, which will require a nearly two year shutdown of
service, to much anger from residents and Carleton university students that depend on
the service.
New FLIRT DMU trains will also be rolled out from Stadler which will be double the length
of current trains requiring platform extensions at all existing stations; these trains are
also used in European regional service, and they offer more modern amenities and a high
level of flexibility for future electric conversion. This will be an interesting task given the
low clearance in the Dows Lake tunnel.
In addition, the Trillium Line will be extended as a dual track line to Bowesville and Riverside
South. This will mean many more park and ride commuter lots, but we’re still pretty positive
about it, as true to our vision of the Trillium Line as a regional rather than a light rail
line. This expansion will also enable future extensions to the transitway at Barrhaven
and Fallowfield, which could potentially lead to another useful VIA Rail connection.
Interestingly, there will also be a rail connection built to the EY Center and Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier
International Airport, a growing hub and Canada’s 6th busiest. Opening in 2023, this will be
either the third or forth air rail link in the country depending on the opening time
of Montreal's REM network. Platforms will only be 40m long,
which will not accommodate the new Stadler trains; instead, the older
Alstom trains will be refurbished and repurposed for this service, with two sets operating
as married pairs on the mainline, which is an interesting choice. In addition, trains
will not interline, but will feature a timed transfer at South Keys station, meaning that
riders going North on the Trillium Line will need to make a cross platform transfer here
to reach points beyond. This leads to an unfortunate 3 seat ride to downtown, unlike the other
air rail links in Canada, which all provide a one seat ride. But then again, we are still
supportive of the plan due to the significant benefits a rail link brings.
The Confederation Line will also see several extensions during Stage 2 which will add numerous
stations, a western branch, and a new light maintenance facility.
The Eastern extension of the Confederation Line will travel in the Median of the Queensway
to extend the line along the previous transitway route. The stations will be placed at major
roadways and appear quite minimal and budget priced when compared to existing Confederation
Line stations. We’re happy to see more coverage but, based on past experience, ridership on
this route will likely be highly dependent on bus connections and commuters driving to
stations which will likely hurt ridership as the Line is relatively far from residents
in several areas. Transit oriented development could be a positive solution here.
The Western extension of the Confederation Line will travel along previous transitway
sections as well as a mixed right of way from Tunney’s Pasture to Lincoln Fields where
the Line will split into two branches terminating at Baseline and Moodie.
The transfer point at Lincoln Fields will feature four platforms, another positive future
proofing feature on the line. This smart decision will enable more frequent services on both
branches during low frequency times as one branch will act as a shuttle similar to the
Trillium Line’s airport branch.
The extension to Moodie will serve the communities of Brittania Heights, Bayshore as well as
residential communities East of Moodie drive. Moodie will also be a major transfer point
for connections to points west including Kanata and the Canadian Tire Centre, which may also
get service with a future extension. There will also be a light OMF at Moodie which will
provide light train maintenance, cleaning, as well as storage in order to reduce deadheading.
On the other branch, the extension to Baseline will serve the communities of Whiteshore,
Parkway Park as well as Algonquin college at Baseline. This will also be a major transfer
point for service to points South along the transitway, which may also get service with
a future extension.
On a final note, some viewers would be disappointed if we didn’t mention the future stage three
expansions. These are not yet set in stone, but it would extend the network like so.
Across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, the smaller city is also getting a light rail line. There
are currently 3 different route options under study, with a connection point with the Ottawa
LRT still to be determined, although it is currently planned to use the Portage Bridge
to cross the river.
And here we have it: the future of rail rapid transit in Ottawa. Ottawa is set to have quite
a nice extensive network, which is fairly well future proofed with the long platforms
and advanced signalling on the Confederation Line. Given all this growth, Ottawa’s system
will be almost as large, if not larger than the systems in Alberta in only a decade, and
is poised to overtake Edmonton in size by the late 2020s. This will likely catapult
Ottawa to the front of the race to become Canada’s next large city. We’re really
excited to keep following Ottawa’s transit explosion, and we’ll be sure to bring you
guys up to date with any developments.
If you enjoyed this video, like, subscribe, and leave a comment down below to tell us
what you’re most excited for in Ottawa’s transit future. Follow us on Instagram and
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videos for you guys. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you in the next one!
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