O-Train Line 2/4 [Stage 2 | Greenboro to Limebank/Airport] | In Service

[Uhuniau]

Finally got to use the train from the airport to downtown, and contrary to popular belief, it didn't completely —?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Finally got to use the train from the airport to downtown, and contrary to popular belief, it didn't completely —?

Ringing endorsement!

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I am in Montreal this morning and the speed of the metro is so much faster than both Lines 1 and 2. Then I turn on the news and Line 1 is partially shut down again. At least both Montreal and Toronto have multiple routes into downtown, so if one goes down, there is an alternative that is not a bus in mixed traffic.

You keep banging on this. But at least for Toronto, it's not true in practice. The two subway lines are on perpendicular axes. Just because there's a problem at Greenwood station, the alternative isn't to bus to the Yonge Line. It's usually to grab whatever bus or streetcar and head downtown. Maybe in the future when GO becomes proper regional rail, they'll have redundancy between GO and the TTC Subway network. But that is many years away and millions of people more in population.

In Ottawa's case, your desire for multiple lines is solely aimed at your hood and zero consideration of the majority of flow in the city which is east-west. If any redundancy has to be prioritized, it's not for Line 2.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

You keep banging on this. But at least for Toronto, it's not true in practice. The two subway lines are on perpendicular axes. Just because there's a problem at Greenwood station, the alternative isn't to bus to the Yonge Line. It's usually to grab whatever bus or streetcar and head downtown. Maybe in the future when GO becomes proper regional rail, they'll have redundancy between GO and the TTC Subway network. But that is many years away and millions of people more in population.

In Ottawa's case, your desire for multiple lines is solely aimed at your hood and zero consideration of the majority of flow in the city which is east-west. If any redundancy has to be prioritized, it's not for Line 2.

At least Line 2 in Toronto follows a straight street, so a bus doesn't have to deviate much . Here, the replacement bus has to detour all over the place and takes 3 or 4 times the time to get around the shut down. Furthermore, our depleted bus network faces additional cancellations when we need replacement. buses for the trains. I gather that bus cancellations are now worse than ever.

If you want people to use transit, it needs to be reliable.

[Richard Eade]

Sorry, but I find that comment a bit unfair. The reason that the O-Train pilot project was put where it is was two-fold: First, there was an existing, under-used track – but there where other under-used tracks around the city, too. Which brings me to the second major reason; that these tracks provided a more direct transit routing to a major destination than buses had access to.

Carleton U. is not the most convenient place to get to via the bus network. However, the tracks were a much more direct route. That also extends for places north and south that were adjacent to that old rail corridor.

Now it sounds as if you are complaining that, if the train is not able to run for any reason, the replacement buses use a much less direct routing to move people. That, to me, is akin to saying that if there is no flight to London, England, then alternative, taking a ship across the ocean, would be a slower trip. Logically, it is true, but it is an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison – just as it is for the Trillium Line and the R2 bus service.

At best, I can take from your comment that OC Transpo should endeavour to ensure that the O-Trains (all lines) run as much as they can. (Because, yes, the bus service kind of — right now.)

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Sorry, but I find that comment a bit unfair. The reason that the O-Train pilot project was put where it is was two-fold: First, there was an existing, under-used track – but there where other under-used tracks around the city, too. Which brings me to the second major reason; that these tracks provided a more direct transit routing to a major destination than buses had access to.

Carleton U. is not the most convenient place to get to via the bus network. However, the tracks were a much more direct route. That also extends for places north and south that were adjacent to that old rail corridor.

Now it sounds as if you are complaining that, if the train is not able to run for any reason, the replacement buses use a much less direct routing to move people. That, to me, is akin to saying that if there is no flight to London, England, then alternative, taking a ship across the ocean, would be a slower trip. Logically, it is true, but it is an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison – just as it is for the Trillium Line and the R2 bus service.

At best, I can take from your comment that OC Transpo should endeavour to ensure that the O-Trains (all lines) run as much as they can. (Because, yes, the bus service kind of — right now.)

It is mostly a benefit to have the trains on more direct routes, I totally agree, but when they fail, it can be difficult to move passengers. At least Line 2 has the SE Transit way as an alternate route towards downtown.

Where we have our biggest problems is Line 1 going east from downtown and how awkward it is to reach almost every station with a bus when the train fails, which has been fairly frequent. This is the flaw of rail following the Queensway with stations tucked in off of interchanges that are not easy to reach

[sseguin]

Chasing Trains Through the Winter | O-Train Line 2

Winter in Ottawa is cold, frigid, windy, quiet, but beautiful. Add in some bright red trains crossing the snowy landscapes of the city, and you get something truly special.

In this video, we capture some of this winter magic as the Alstom Coradia LINT and Stadler FLIRT trainsets travel along O-Train Line 2.

• Video Link

[lrt's friend]

I rode Line 2 this morning at rush hour. Standing room only. Line 2 will reach peak capacity before the 2046 proposed upgrade date.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I rode Line 2 this morning at rush hour. Standing room only. Line 2 will reach peak capacity before the 2046 proposed upgrade date.

Time to bring in Bi-Level trains.

[DarthVader_1961]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

Time to bring in Bi-Level trains.

Double tracking will have to be done at some point …. Another multi year shutdown

[OCCheetos]

A multi-year shutdown really isn't as inevitable as everyone makes it out to be.

The city opted for shutdowns in the past because
1. it's less expensive
2. it should be faster
3. its ridership could be easily managed with buses
4. most recently it gave the added opportunity for TNEXT to go through and redo everything they wanted to bring it up to the spec that they are willing to maintain for the next 30 years.

Point #4 isn't relevant anymore. Point #3 is becoming less true by the day. Point #2 will always be true, but isn't necessarily a worthwhile tradeoff. And I guess if you're a cynic you'll probably keep pointing at #1 as the leading reason to keep arguing that a shutdown is definitely going to happen.

Now, why a multi-year shutdown would be needed to double track most if not all of the line is beyond me. Metrolinx has done far more complicated work across the GO network for lines that historically have seen lower ridership than the Trillium Line does now, all without any extended closures.

You can do a lot of work along the edges of an active railway. (Again, see all the work happening in Toronto).
You can tear down or put up overpasses in a single weekend. (Again, see all the work happening in Toronto).
You can build new stations/platforms alongside active rail lines. (Again, see all the work happening in Toronto).
You can dig tunnels alongside active railways. (See the Highway 401/409 tunnels dug for the Kitchener line).
You can build a new flyover alongside an active rail line. (See what Metrolinx did with the Barrie line and just the fact that the Ellwood flyover was literally built to allow for this).

We don't need to shut the line down again, which is to say that we don't need every person's hot take about a "multi-year shutdown" every single time the topic of future upgrades comes up. We get it, you're cynical.

[lrt's friend]

I don't believe you! Large sections have to be blasted.

Just move all the downtown bound passengers to the Transit way Who cares if the students have to take a bus again. This has always been the attitude since 2001.

I may be cynical but more often than not, I have been correct in my assessments over several years.

This is a good way of shutting down discussion.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I don't believe you! Large sections have to be blasted.

Just move all the downtown bound passengers to the Transit way Who cares if the students have to take a bus again. This has always been the attitude since 2001.

I may be cynical but more often than not, I have been correct in my assessments over several years.

It's no longer just students who are using the line, especially as the hospital comes together and new developments are completed along the entire line.

Blasting is the simplest way to cut through bedrock, but it is not the only way. There is also a lot of work that can be done to expand capacity without needing to blast anything at all. Even in the worst case, the trench covers a very small portion of the line and would not necessitate a multi-year shutdown of the entire line.

This is a good way of shutting down discussion.

I'm not an admin. I can't stop you from posting. But if it's this easy to shut down your discussion then I'm not sure you really have much to discuss.

Repeating the same thing over and over and over again doesn't add anything, especially if it's only based on your own "assessment".

I'm only pointing out how defeatist and unfounded the idea that a shutdown is inevitable is. By 2046 (or sooner) this line will have a critical mass of ridership that can't easily be bustituted. Extended shutdowns will be less and less politically viable. It is possible to do a lot of this work soon without extended shutdowns. We should discuss that instead of circling the drain with the same boring takes.

[ponyboycurtis]

I think we can all agree that they didn't do themselves any favors for expansion.

I'll bring up Walkley station again. What should likely have been an island platform will require another station to be built on the opposite side. Throwing good money after bad basically.

[golfguy9]

Super late to the party on this one but figured I'd take Line 2 to Dows to skate on the canal yesterday and wow those Stadler trains are smooth.

Can the Swiss build all of our rail please??

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Double tracking will have to be done at some point …. Another multi year shutdown

I'm willing to bet there's engineering solutions that avoid that.

[DarthVader_1961]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I'm willing to bet there's engineering solutions that avoid that.

Could they work in stages?

[lrt's friend]

I was at Greenboro at 5:55 pm and the Line 2 southbound train was packed. We may not have that much time before we hit a ridership wall at certain times.

Meanwhile, they continue to cut Route 98 trips coming from Hurdman.

[Williamoforange]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Could they work in stages?

Wouldn't really need to per se, alot of double tracking work can be completed without ever touching the rail or is operation, that work being road bridge work. Complete that and then it's just laying track which the ground work can be done overnight.

Also, it should be noted that the city could reduce intervals & increase capacity by simply double tracking at Walkley and that location is going to need work for HSR to be built.

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I was at Greenboro at 5:55 pm and the Line 2 southbound train was packed. We may not have that much time before we hit a ridership wall at certain times.

Meanwhile, they continue to cut Route 98 trips coming from Hurdman.

Stripped a lot of service coming in and out of Hurdman. The SE Transitway and it's branches are an excellent feeder network for Line 1 and can also act as redundant way to get into downtown if there is an issue with Line 2.

SE Transitway is a gem of an asset when you figure you can veer off to the Hospital in the 105. Or the 90 that exits at Billings and then serves a wide swath of area and then comes back to hit SK and Greenboro. It does the one thing a train can't do and we have been slowly chipping away at it.