Journal of Public Transit in Ottawa

[waterloowarrior]

first issue is out. (http://transitottawa.sslpowered.com/transitottawa.ca/JPTO_Vol1_W2010.pdf) looks like a good read.

[lrt's friend]

The article on a Cornwall-Ottawa rail link seemed pie in the sky to me.

[Uhuniau]

It could use maps.

[Dado]

:previous:

That article didn't get off to a good start. It's third paragraph had this:

"O’Brien initiated a demonstration run where he invited elected officials aboard a chartered O-Train that traveled along a rural rail line to an outlying community to the northwest of Ottawa. There are at present three possible commuter rail routes under discussion. O’Brien’s vision includes an electric light railway system for Ottawa along with a regional commuter rail system with Ottawa as its centre."

O'Brien had nothing to do with the run to the northwest and it didn't use an O-Train. O'Brien was invited but didn't show up, just as Alex Cullen did not show and just as our senior transit planning staff did not show up. An O-Train once did go to Carp, but that was long before O'Brien was mayor. I've also seen no evidence of O'Brien having a vision of a regional commuter rail system.


As for the Cornwall idea, it's not all that nuts. Where the Alexandria Subdivision heads east near Moose Creek before turning northeast near Maxville is only about 8 km from the main CPR line. At $2-3M/km (this is rural construction, after all), a cost of ~$20M could be assumed. Doing this would chop off a lot of useless curving back and forth around Alexandria. So the first part of the idea, to improve existing passenger rail service to Montreal, is quite viable, assuming that CP is agreeable.

Where things get far more troublesome is making the link from around Monkland to Cornwall. There are a couple of river crossings, marsh, farms and residences and of course the 401 to contend with. The $2-3M/km further north would be considerably higher south of Monkland. There is no old underpass of the 401 where the 401 crosses the RoW of the former Ottawa & New York, so that's out, but there is an unused former CPR underpass near the intersection of Service Rd and Boundary Rd to the northeast of Cornwall. It's another 5 km further east of Hwy 138 and is more-or-less where the author proposes the connection be made near the village of Glendale, except I think the author is suggesting to make the connection further east still where the CN RoW passes beneath the 401. Despite the difficulties, and assuming the City of Ottawa isn't put in charge of the project, it should be doable for less than $100M, so having some other revenue would be handy, which is where the freight component comes in.

The discussion on freight trends is interesting. This PANAMAX2 stuff is going to be a real game-changer when the Panama Canal widening is completed in a few years. The lack of region-wide strategic planning encompassing rail becomes obvious when reading an article like this, particularly now that CP is going to abandon the Chalk River Subdivision in the Ottawa Valley (see Monday's Citizen, Page B2).

[lrt's friend]

It seems the trucking companies are continuing to undercut railways. By the time oil prices go way up, which seems inevitable, there will be little rail infrastructure left in Eastern Ontario leaving the area at a severe disadvantage in competing for industry in the future.

[RTWAP]

It seems the trucking companies are continuing to undercut railways. By the time oil prices go way up, which seems inevitable, there will be little rail infrastructure left in Eastern Ontario leaving the area at a severe disadvantage in competing for industry in the future.

It's a good point.

A little long-term strategic planning would be nice. If the NCC was a little more involved, and less insular, they might take a lead role in long-term planning for eastern Ontario and western Quebec. I wish someone was protecting rail corridors, especially those that would be required for a future HSR link.

While it would be nice to have an HSR terminus at Union Station, a decision either way would be nice. If the current station is going to become a major intermodal hub then the land around it should be built to a high density. Instead of having Walmarts with seas of parking, those lands should have been built up. New high-rise office and residential developments, and much higher density retail.

It's almost like there's no plan.

[lrt's friend]

I could be wrong but I understand that Via owns the old CPR shortline right of way between Ottawa and Rigaud Quebec, with the thinking that this route would be used for HSR.

On the Cornwall rail link, I find it difficult to justify an expenditure of $100M for one commuter rail trip per day perhaps serving 100 passengers.

[Dado]

That's my understanding about the M&O corridor too, but east of Bourget it's not all that useful for HSR. It simply goes the wrong way and curves too much, though it would have gone more-or-less the right way if the original idea was to connect Ottawa to Mirabel by HSR... (perhaps that also explains the strange routing of the 417).

As it stands, it's value is as a way to get into Ottawa from the east. That still leaves a lot of track building across Eastern Ontario, so as an interim improvement ~$20M doesn't seem too bad. But I tend to agree that the rest of the line to Cornwall is beyond any real hope. It's too bad the O&NY was pulled up, because it would today be a very nice commuter line from Cornwall via Embrun and Russell.

[DEWLine]

Been taking a new look at this article, and talking to friends and acquaintances who commute between Ottawa and Cornwall. Wondering if perhaps reviving the rail corridor as something actively used might not be a Good Thing.