City of Ottawa
OTTAWA, Ontario – Officials from local and national government agencies joined in Ottawa last week to unveil the future of transit with a full-sized mockup of the Alston Citadis Spirit light rail vehicle. The vehicle will be used on the O-Train Confederation Line, the backbone of Ottawa’s new light rail transit system.
The vehicle opened for public display on Jan. 30 at the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park. The vehicle will remain open for seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., until the end of March.
“Your government is proud to invest in a modern and more efficient public transit system that improves the National Capital Region’s long-term economic growth and prosperity,” Member of Parliament Royal Galipeau tells citizens.
The government of Canada, the province of Ontario, and the city of Ottawa jointly fund the $2.3 billion Confederation Line Transit Project. Once completed in 2018, the state-of-the-art transit project is expected to generate an estimated $3.2 billion in economic activity by 2031.
A lot of Carleton University students use the diesel O-Train "Trillium Line" to get from "nowhere" and from bus transfers to the campus at the middle of the line. At peak hours, trains are overloaded, and new high rise housing is springing up around several stations. Up to 4 of 6 new Alston Citadis diesel trainsets will very soon replace the 3 Bomardier Talent trainsets. While the new eLRT and dLRT have a transfer point at Bayview Station, there is no track connection. In a decade or two, the Trillium Line could be connected, double tracked, extended south, electrified and a spur to the YOW airport added.
Are they going to electrify the existing nowhere-to-nowhere O Train line?