Canadian LRT/RT projects U/C

[GeneralLea]

Great updates Coldrsx, the LRT is looking great, especially with how it's transformed those stretches of downtown Edmonton. The bridge is a definite winner in my books, one of the more notable recent examples of excellent bridge design in the country. I really enjoy how it's accomodate pedestrians and cyclists to extend a trail.

I took these yesterday, this may be one of the first updates in this thread for the Hurontario LRT project, which strted smetime last year with utility relocation. Presently, they're and have been working on moving sewers down from the QEW to the lake...and I recall they did some work with replacing one or two highway bridges to accomodate the new LRT:
These are taken near Elm street, about a 12 minute walk south from Square One (south of Burnamthorpe)
Hurontario Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
Hurontario Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr

[Black Star]

Not gonna lie...I love those towers. Dem curves.

[J.OT13]

Work on the Parkway-Byron O-Train tunnel in Ottawa's urban west end. Two new open-air stations will be added where none existed before.

Photo_6553708_DJI_108_jpg_8503754_0_20219913234_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Photo_6553707_DJI_107_jpg_8496062_0_20219913150_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Ottawa International Airport, with u/c Line 4 running the middle.


https://twitter.com/rail613/status/1436681641078972420

Ground section of Line 4.


https://twitter.com/JimWatsonOttawa/status/1437763062363086853

[Coldrsx]

I can't wait for my next trip to Ottawa to check the new system out in a couple of years.

[Coldrsx]

Nearly there.




https://twitter.com/uptown_one/status/1440395129446014987

[esquire]

^ Looking good!

[Tg11]

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

Great updates Coldrsx, the LRT is looking great, especially with how it's transformed those stretches of downtown Edmonton. The bridge is a definite winner in my books, one of the more notable recent examples of excellent bridge design in the country. I really enjoy how it's accomodate pedestrians and cyclists to extend a trail.

I took these yesterday, this may be one of the first updates in this thread for the Hurontario LRT project, which strted smetime last year with utility relocation. Presently, they're and have been working on moving sewers down from the QEW to the lake...and I recall they did some work with replacing one or two highway bridges to accomodate the new LRT:
These are taken near Elm street, about a 12 minute walk south from Square One (south of Burnamthorpe)
Hurontario Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
Hurontario Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr

From Mississauga myself and I love that they are building an LRT system well similarly to the TTC streetcar system

[J.OT13]

Airport Station Ottawa, which will offer a three train, two transfer ride to downtown, just 20 minutes more than the current bus! and 25 minutes more than the pre-Confederation Line bus!! Fantastic deal!!

From David Bellerive via Rail Fans Canada.






https://otrain.railfans.ca/snapshot-updates-2/snapshot-of-airport-station-september-23-2021

[Tg11]

Ottawa...y'all have a great looking transit system

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tg11

Ottawa...y'all have a great looking transit system

Yup, looks great! But functionality is questionable.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Yup, looks great! But functionality is questionable.

How is it possible that an airport-link rail system will provide slower service to the CBD than an existing bus route? I cannot fathom that.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harrison

How is it possible that an airport-link rail system will provide slower service to the CBD than an existing bus route? I cannot fathom that.

The City opted to extend the Trillium Line as far as possible instead of improving service along the existing line, which would have left enough money for a modest extension. This results in the maintenance of a 12 minute service, which makes it unfeasible to have direct Airport to Bayview service, which would result in dismal 24 minute frequencies to the airport and south suburb branches.

Because of this, riders will have to transfer three times, from Line 1, which has good 3-5 minute service, to Line 2 at Bayview, west of downtown, with its 12 minute service, and again at South Keys, a suburban shopping strip mall, to catch a Line 4 train to the airport. Transfers between Line 2 and 4 are supposed to be timed well enough to avoid long wait times, but we'll see how that works in practice.

Below is a map. The green line is Line 2, Bayview to Limebank, and the Line 4, South Keys to the Airport. The City probably could have double tracked, or at least done enough to increase frequencies to 6 minutes, the existing Line 2 and extend to the airport for the same price as doubling the length of all platforms and extending all the way to Bowesville (with Limebank funded by developers and the Province).


https://ottawa.ca/en/planning-developmen...ge-2-light-rail-transit-project/overview

It demonstrates how the City's priority is serving suburbs-downtown commuters over urban residents who might use the service regularly for all day to day movements.

It could be possible to one day upgrade Line 2 enough to provide Airport-Bayview service, but interlining will never happen as the City has doubled down on high floor DMUs (convertible to EMUs), incompatible with the low-floor Line 1 Confederation.

[lrt's friend]

What Ottawa has done shows some of the project issues.

1) It is almost impossible to deliver faster service when you upgrade from BRT to LRT on the same route.

2) It is very easy to make service worse when you add transfers when building rapid transit. Your new rapid transit system better be significantly faster than the status quo to make up for added transfer wait times.

3) In this case, a direct bus line from the airport to downtown that mostly followed a busway is always going to be much faster than rail that requires two transfers. This is no Canada Line or UPX project that replaced awkward downtown transit accesses previously.

The sad thing is that improvements to make service faster will not come for many years, if ever. It is consequence of a number of decisions.

1) the 2006 LRT cancellation that eliminated potential direct LRT service from the airport to downtown.
2) the decision around 2012 to not allow interlining of Line 1 and 2 into the proposed downtown tunnel to save money.
3) the decision around the same time to upgrade Line 2 using diesel trains made interlining downtown impossible because of train incompatibility.
4) Phase 2 of Line 2 did not include double tracking of the original Phase 1. This meant that airport trains could not even reach Bayview station.
5) Going forward, double tracking of Phase 1 will not occur for many years, will cost a fortune, and will require another protracted shutdown of Line 2 (many months at the very least).

There is a very good chance that Ottawa's airport rail link will be a white elephant. It is already known that this line will have a large annual operating loss, money that could have been invested in improving transit elsewhere in the city.

[niwell]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - airports are terrible transit trip generators. Train links are great for major airports in cities that see significant tourism and/or have horrible traffic, and they usually cost a premium. Ottawa doesn't really fit the bill here, no matter how much more civilized it seems to get onto a train instead of a bus.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by niwell

I've said it before and I'll say it again - airports are terrible transit trip generators. Train links are great for major airports in cities that see significant tourism and/or have horrible traffic, and they usually cost a premium. Ottawa doesn't really fit the bill here, no matter how much more civilized it seems to get onto a train instead of a bus.

To me, it should have been an all or nothing proposition. The airport is very close to downtown. The RoW is mostly already there. It would not have been that much of a stretch to build a train that goes all the way downtown, or at the very least Bayview.

As you say, airports are not a huge transit generator. What we're getting here in Ottawa will only make this even more problematic. It's $130 million down the drain.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

It's $130 million down the drain.

Unless you are flying to Ottawa in order to visit our world-renowned South Keys Shopping Centre. In that case, this train is just the ticket!!

[Beedok]

Hopefully it inspires them to turn it into a major TOD, with hotels and such.

[jamincan]

It's been anchored by a Transitway station on either end for 25 years or so, and I don't think it's changed a bit in that time. Maybe a train to the airport is the difference the owners have been waiting for, but somehow I doubt it.

[drizzo_613]

For reference, this video shows the current method of getting from the Ottawa airport to the Byward Market using the OC Transpo bus/LRT.

https://youtu.be/byzBAWOqxoI

[le calmar]

If it means getting on a train rather than a bus, I personally don’t mind the extra travel time. Taking a bus while carrying luggage is usually a terrible experience. But yeah, the two transfers are a bit much. I am assuming they will end bus service once the train is operational?