O-Train Line 1/3 [ Stage 2 | East Extension | Blair to Trim] | U/C

[Stacmon]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I don't know how you regain ridership even with those who do not have a work from home option, with this kind of service level. This defeats the efficiency of the rail line by offering awful outbound transfer connections. I just rechecked my local bus and it is still operating at half the frequency as before the pandemic. This means that it is no longer a few minute wait for a bus transfer during peak hours. And this does not even consider previous service cuts that occurred before the pandemic.

There is definitely only so much that can be done post-pandemic to get pre-pandemic ridership, routes and frequency and ironically it seems to be less the illness itself that is impacting transit use/commuting and more the generational shift to a hybrid friendly "work from home on certain days" arrangement that many employers (especially the federal public service) are offering. If this rail system was being planned now, who knows what it might look like based on the lower capacity needs (or if we even would have felt the same pressure to build a grade separated system with a downtown tunnel the same way we did years before the pandemic at all)!

What I think will happen instead is a few things. Based on comments others have made about the importance of proximity to driving transit use and the strong desire to build residential buildings/homes to increase supply, it's quite possible that rather than relying on a reversal of the hybrid/work from home trend, we will get higher passenger volumes by future growth in the city being clustered around stations. That likely means fewer stand-alone single family homes (except maybe near a few suburban stations) and more high density construction, including tall condo towers outside the Greenbelt (we have had examples in Barrhaven, Kanata and Orleans of that). The lower current capacity also contributes (in an unfortunate way) to ensuring we don't need increased capacity to meet the needs of riders as soon as we would have before hybrid work arrangements (though we had room to grow by expanding train and platform lengths, without needing to rebuild the Confederation Line the way they did with Trillium).

Ultimately I feel like because we can never have the existing rail lines/infrastructure go to where some of the densest neighborhoods are (e.g., many talk about how they wish for a Bank Street or Rideau/Montreal Street subway), we will end up with *future* growth/density being more concentrated near these stations in a way that will change the overall makeup of the city in a generation or two (think of the two condo buildings at Blair, Petrie's Landing near Trim, etc.). If they add to the train stations really good bus rapid transit corridors (e.g., picture frequency like the old Transitway or even the section between Hurdman and South Keys that we retained) where users could get a high frequency bus every 5 minutes or less that connected them quickly to the rail network, we'll have even greater growth and densification opportunities beyond just the train stations.

It really makes me wonder how Ottawa may look in 20-30 years now that we are irreversibly on this path to Stage 2 (and 3, for political if not ridership reasons)!

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by orleans_man

My take is:

1) This is primarily just replacing the existing transitway and the routes that used to utilize this corridor, with "Transportation-Oriented-Development" being a potential bonus. I don't think we'll see any significant changes in frequency (at least not for a while). I think local buses will simply continue to connect to the stations they connected to before (Place/Jean D'arc/Trim) and the Connexion/Express routes will just run "shorter" and his the O-Train stations instead of heading all the way to Blair, with a few changes here and there. This will generally improve the experience for some.

2) Volume/Revenue - On another note, I believe the Orleans portion of the line is going to be far less busy than what they had projected initially, at least until commuting levels return. I know my Connexion bus here in Orleans only runs 4 times during the morning rush hour (and not at capacity, maybe 40% or less), compared to 10 or 12 times during Pre-Pandemic times. Some quick napkin math tells me we have gone from 500-600 daily commuters on my route to about 100 or so. That's probably true through much of Orleans. That's a pretty big drop in volume/revenue, so until demand increases, I don't think we'll much change in connexion/local bus frequency. Hopefully, when the line is built and the O-Train's performance stabilizes volumes will pick-up again... and additional frequency can be justified.

3) Park-and-Rides - I think the only change I heard was maybe some additional capacity being added to the Trim park-and-ride.

So the City and OC probably look at this and think "we need to make cuts", but maybe what's needed is smaller buses. We don't need giant double decker death traps, or maybe even articulated buses in the suburbs anymore. Maybe we can buy more standard 40-footers instead.

And this was a sore-point in the electrification plan; few electric articulated and double decker models. Well maybe that's not a problem anymore, or not as much of a problem because we still need high capacity buses on urban routes.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Stacmon

There is definitely only so much that can be done post-pandemic to get pre-pandemic ridership, routes and frequency and ironically it seems to be less the illness itself that is impacting transit use/commuting and more the generational shift to a hybrid friendly "work from home on certain days" arrangement that many employers (especially the federal public service) are offering. If this rail system was being planned now, who knows what it might look like based on the lower capacity needs (or if we even would have felt the same pressure to build a grade separated system with a downtown tunnel the same way we did years before the pandemic at all)!

What I think will happen instead is a few things. Based on comments others have made about the importance of proximity to driving transit use and the strong desire to build residential buildings/homes to increase supply, it's quite possible that rather than relying on a reversal of the hybrid/work from home trend, we will get higher passenger volumes by future growth in the city being clustered around stations. That likely means fewer stand-alone single family homes (except maybe near a few suburban stations) and more high density construction, including tall condo towers outside the Greenbelt (we have had examples in Barrhaven, Kanata and Orleans of that). The lower current capacity also contributes (in an unfortunate way) to ensuring we don't need increased capacity to meet the needs of riders as soon as we would have before hybrid work arrangements (though we had room to grow by expanding train and platform lengths, without needing to rebuild the Confederation Line the way they did with Trillium).

Ultimately I feel like because we can never have the existing rail lines/infrastructure go to where some of the densest neighborhoods are (e.g., many talk about how they wish for a Bank Street or Rideau/Montreal Street subway), we will end up with *future* growth/density being more concentrated near these stations in a way that will change the overall makeup of the city in a generation or two (think of the two condo buildings at Blair, Petrie's Landing near Trim, etc.). If they add to the train stations really good bus rapid transit corridors (e.g., picture frequency like the old Transitway or even the section between Hurdman and South Keys that we retained) where users could get a high frequency bus every 5 minutes or less that connected them quickly to the rail network, we'll have even greater growth and densification opportunities beyond just the train stations.

It really makes me wonder how Ottawa may look in 20-30 years now that we are irreversibly on this path to Stage 2 (and 3, for political if not ridership reasons)!

I agree. We are not getting non phase 3 expansion and frankly we are heading for a budget cliff that might mean we don't get that. If Liberals get re-elected and continue to ramp up carbon tax I could see the growth coming from these nodes as you say as heating and transport costs finally start to bite. But barring that the cost of construction and general undesirability of most of these locations limits the growth to some extent.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

So the City and OC probably look at this and think "we need to make cuts", but maybe what's needed is smaller buses. We don't need giant double decker death traps, or maybe even articulated buses in the suburbs anymore. Maybe we can buy more standard 40-footers instead.

And this was a sore-point in the electrification plan; few electric articulated and double decker models. Well maybe that's not a problem anymore, or not as much of a problem because we still need high capacity buses on urban routes.

Isn't the whole point of the LRT is to get away from the larger buses and go back to standard transit buses for all routes? If that can be done, and the overall ridership does not drop, then the LRT has become a success.

[OTSkyline]

Do those Orleans overpasses have room for a bus bay or shelter if we are hoping for bus/train connectivity?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Isn't the whole point of the LRT is to get away from the larger buses and go back to standard transit buses for all routes? If that can be done, and the overall ridership does not drop, then the LRT has become a success.

You would hope. With Stage 1, we still needed the same huge buses to ferry passengers from the burbs' to Tunney's and Blair, but hopefully, with local O-Train Stations, the idea would be smaller buses, higher frequency.

That said, not sure that's the direction Sutcliffe wants to take.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

So the City and OC probably look at this and think "we need to make cuts", but maybe what's needed is smaller buses. We don't need giant double decker death traps, or maybe even articulated buses in the suburbs anymore. Maybe we can buy more standard 40-footers instead.

And this was a sore-point in the electrification plan; few electric articulated and double decker models. Well maybe that's not a problem anymore, or not as much of a problem because we still need high capacity buses on urban routes.

You'll still need high-capacity double-deckers or accordeons for the 10-km or so of Transitway in the southeast, and also for the route between Algonquin LRT station and Barrhaven, which is close to 10 km as well.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You'll still need high-capacity double-deckers or accordeons for the 10-km or so of Transitway in the southeast, and also for the route between Algonquin LRT station and Barrhaven, which is close to 10 km as well.

If we assumed all are in good working order, would they be enough to cover these needs?
Are those sections planned to be converted to LRT?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You'll still need high-capacity double-deckers or accordeons for the 10-km or so of Transitway in the southeast, and also for the route between Algonquin LRT station and Barrhaven, which is close to 10 km as well.

South-east Transitway, absolutely. It's a high ridership corridor even today. Barrhaven, not so sure. It's a bunch of locals converging on the Transitway towards Algonquin. Maybe if we have a few Transitway only 95s (or whatever the number is now).

That still means a reduction of articulated and possibly the full elimination of double deckers (DDs). The DDs were introduced for the long distance one seat ride commutes from suburbs to Downtown. They had more capacity and took less space on Albert and Slater. With the now shorter runs (especially after Stage 2) and the elimination of the Central Transitway, they've done their time.

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

If we assumed all are in good working order, would they be enough to cover these needs?
Are those sections planned to be converted to LRT?

What we have can cover the needs for today. Any future purchase could probably reduce the numbers of articulated and I believe the complete elimination of DDs.

Conversion? Barrhaven, yes. Part of Stage 3. South-East is not in the plans, nor should it ever be. It's well used, but nowhere near capacity, and likely nezr will be. I could see the City convert it because it's "easy" instead of investing where new infrastructure is needed. If that indeed happens, I will be furious.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

South-east Transitway, absolutely. It's a high ridership corridor even today. Barrhaven, not so sure. It's a bunch of locals converging on the Transitway towards Algonquin. Maybe if we have a few Transitway only 95s (or whatever the number is now).

That still means a reduction of articulated and possibly the full elimination of double deckers (DDs). The DDs were introduced for the long distance one seat ride commutes from suburbs to Downtown. They had more capacity and took less space on Albert and Slater. With the now shorter runs (especially after Stage 2) and the elimination of the Central Transitway, they've done their time.



What we have can cover the needs for today. Any future purchase could probably reduce the numbers of articulated and I believe the complete elimination of DDs.

Conversion? Barrhaven, yes. Part of Stage 3. South-East is not in the plans, nor should it ever be. It's well used, but nowhere near capacity, and likely nezr will be. I could see the City convert it because it's "easy" instead of investing where new infrastructure is needed. If that indeed happens, I will be furious.

Could the South East be done in such a way that it opens up a way to go to Gatineau through the downtown core?

[hwy418]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Could the South East be done in such a way that it opens up a way to go to Gatineau through the downtown core?

Constructing the link between Nicholas Street and the Hospital Link Rd could make this possible.

[Tesladom]

Is LRT running a super slow speed today because of the snow? Saw a few trains on the eastern segment going really slow this afternoon

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

Is LRT running a super slow speed today because of the snow? Saw a few trains on the eastern segment going really slow this afternoon

No, just a slow order. Been going on for months.

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

They're waiting until they can determine a true root cause to the axle assembly failures before deciding how to proceed.

[Tesladom]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

No, just a slow order. Been going on for months.

I mean they were running brutally slow yesterday

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[Fading Isle]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

I mean they were running brutally slow yesterday

Brutally slow has been the norm since August. I took the train downtown from Blair on Wednesday morning and it was running at the same speed it’s been running since August.

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[sseguin]

Bringing the O-Train further East: An Overview of Stage 2's Eastern Extension

O-Train Line 1 (Stage 1) opened on September 14, 2019, and featured 13 stations from Blair in the east to Tunney’s Pasture in the west. The O-Train is quickly being expanded to add additional service coverage in the East, West and South of Ottawa, in a project called Stage 2 LRT. This video will provide an overview of the Eastern Extension of O-Train Line 1, which will extend service East of Blair station to Trim Road in Orleans.

• Video Link

[J.OT13]

Stage 2 Light Rail Transit Project (LRT)

O-Train East Extension

Major Construction Activities and Community Impacts


Winter 2023

OVERVIEW

The O-Train East Extension is one of the three major extensions to Ottawa’s Stage 2 O-Train Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project. The extension will add more than 12 km of new rail and five new stations from Blair Road to Trim Road. The network includes stations at Montreal Road, Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard, Orléans Boulevard (Convent Glen Station), Place d’Orléans and Trim Road. It also comprises four new bridges; six rehabilitated bridges; three pedestrian bridges; three major culverts; and noise walls on the north and south sides of Ottawa Road (OR) 174.

This notice provides an overview of upcoming activities between Blair Station to Trim Station. Solid progress on the project is being made, however, construction activities that may be expected to impact area residents include hours of work, noise from crews and equipment, traffic detours, site lighting, as well as pedestrian and vehicle mobility.

Residents should be aware that throughout 2023 there will continue to be nightwork across the alignment. A weekly summary of nightwork will also be shared at the outset of each week. If you would like to receive the weekly summary, please email [email protected] to be added to the distribution list.

Notifications to affected residents will precede all impactful activities occurring after 10:00 p.m. for those who subscribe to the newsletter updates (Ottawa.ca/Stage2connect).

MAJOR WORKS UPDATE

Guideway Work

During 2022, the east segment of the project transitioned from an infrastructure project, focused on widening the OR 174, building highway ramps and railway bridges, into a rail line. Crews completed the full civil engineering scope of the guideway construction, earthworks, drainage, overhead catenary system (OCS) foundations, sub-ballast, and ballast, and handed it over to the contractor responsible for installing track.

The first tracks were installed in April at Jeanne d’Arc Station, and by the end of the year 60% of the rail for the east extension had been installed, including a complete installation in both directions from Jeanne d’Arc Station to Blair Station, and from Trim Road to Tenth Line Road including direction fixation on the railway bridges at Montréal Station and the OR 174 Median Rail Bridge.



The end of October also marked one of the biggest milestones to-date on the project, the tie-in to Stage 1 LRT at Blair Station.



Where tracks had been fully installed, crews worked on “surfacing” the track, which is the process of pushing the ballast into place with specialized machinery, and “de-stressing” the track, which is the process of finding the optimal temperature and length of the steel rail, completing final welds, and locking the rail into place. This is an important step in maximizing the life of the rail and will continue in 2023.



350 Overhead Catenary System (OCS) foundations were installed in 2022 in the guideway across the east rail corridor. The foundations are situated at regularly spaced intervals. The OCS consists of overhead poles, arms, and cable troughs, which carry the overhead wires that connect to the train’s electric system. The electrical contractor was mobilized and installed the OCS poles in September, from Jeanne d’Arc Station west to Montréal Station, and started affixing the cantilevers (arms) to the poles at Jeanne D’Arc Station in December.



Guideway work during the winter months will be focused on the station areas, including the installation of the remaining OCS foundations, and drainage, within the LRT stations themselves, at Jeanne d’Arc, Convent Glen and Place d’Orléans. OCS pole installation, from Trim Road to Tenth Line Road, is also tentatively scheduled for the winter months. Guideway work will resume in earnest in the spring when track will be completely installed and the electoral subcontractor will start pulling train control and communications cables in the guideway.

Pedestrian Bridges

A new pedestrian bridge at Green’s Creek was successfully installed in June 2022. The bridge is expected to be opened to pedestrians and cyclists in 2023, with connections to pathways on either side of the of the bridge.



Two additional pedestrian bridges at Place d’Orléans Station and at Trim Station were installed in 2022. These will provide a connection from the fare paid entrance on the south side of OR 174 to the LRT platform in the center median.



In 2023, foundations, columns and pier caps will be constructed for an additional, future pedestrian bridge at Trim Station, from the north of OR 174 to the LRT platform. The construction on the foundations will reduce the impacts to traffic once the future extension is finalized.





Noise Walls

As part of the Stage 2 LRT Project, noise walls are being installed along sections of the OR 174 to respond to historical concerns from the community about traffic noise. Noise walls are constructed in several stages; first by building an earth berm and drainage trenches, then drilling support posts and installing pre-cast panels; finally, shaping and landscaping the earth berms.

Installation of noise walls typically occur toward the end of a highway construction project. However, in response to community concerns over construction noise they were advanced further ahead in the project scope and began in 2021. Much work continued in 2022, and significant progress was made, focused primarily on the noise walls on the north side of OR 174.

By the end of 2022, noise walls west of Montréal Road, between Orléans Boulevard and Bilberry Creek and between Champlain Street and Tenth Line Road were complete. The noise wall between Orléans Boulevard and Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard is complete, except for the extension further west up the Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard off-ramp that has been added to the scope. This extension is planned for 2023.



Construction of the noise wall between Bilberry Creek and the OC Transpo Park & Ride has proven to be particularly difficult due to dense rock and very limited site access for construction crews. Installation of the poles and structure for the noise wall took more time than anticipated due to issues drilling into the existing rock. By the end of 2022 crews had completed the installation of all the poles/frame of the wall and will work to finish the retaining wall in the new year. Once the retaining wall is complete, the noise wall panels will be inserted, and the wall finished.

On the south side of OR 174, noise wall activities in 2022 focused on preparatory work, including surveys. Work on the noise walls, between Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard and Orléans Boulevard, Orléans Boulevard and Stoneboat Crescent, and OR 174 at Terra Nova Estates are expected to continue in 2023.

In winter 2023, earthworks activities, including shaping of berms around noisewalls will occur.

Stations

2022 was a very important year for the stations team with big milestones met. Overall, 13 of 17 station sites on the entire Stage 2 east and west extensions have been started, with construction well-underway.

Construction at five stations on the east segment, Montréal Station, Jeanne d’Arc Station, Convent Glen Station, Place d’Orléans Station, and Trim Station, progressed well and are on-schedule to be completed in 2023.

Activities that will take place at stations in 2023, in addition to finishing works within the stations themselves, include the installation of station noise walls, installation of traction power substations (TPSS) and the construction of a bus operator building at Place d’Orléans Station.

System commissioning will then begin to stay on track for substantial completion of the east extension by the end of 2024.

Montréal Station



Jeanne d’Arc Station



Convent Glen Station



Place d’Orléans Station



Trim Station



TRAFFIC IMPACTS

Please stay tuned for road and ramp closures and updates by checking out the City of Ottawa’s traffic impact page - https://ottawa.ca/en/parking-roads-and-t...es/upcoming-major-traffic-impacts-ottawa

COMMUNITY IMPACTS

Daytime hours of construction are Monday to Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Sunday and on Statutory Holidays. However, there will be requirements for overnight and weekend work, where permitted. Night work is needed to accommodate work that cannot be done during the day (i.e. work that will have significant traffic impacts) or for works that are required to meet the schedule on this large and complex project.

Site lighting for overnight work will be required. Crews will place and/or direct the light to mitigate impact on residents.

Noise and vibration from crews and heavy equipment can be expected. Trucks use approved haul routes and workers and contractors park in designated parking areas. Snow clearing (including designated MUPs, pathways, and pedestrian bridges), street sweeping and cleaning will be ongoing along truck routes and around construction zones.

During roadwork activities, motorists should expect lane reductions and closures. Traffic impacts are communicated to the public by the City of Ottawa. Motorists must adhere to detours, traffic control signage, and posted speed limits, and should allow for added travel time when moving through active construction corridors.

All pedestrian, cycling, bus, and vehicular movements will generally be maintained during construction, with some detours. Pedestrians and cyclists should use extra caution when localized detours are in place and adhere to all posted signage, when travelling to ensure safety, as patterns may have changed.

The City of Ottawa thanks residents for their patience as we work to complete these construction activities.

Accessibility is an important consideration for the Stage 2 LRT project. The Stage 2 team makes every effort to provide access through and around construction sites. If you require disability-related accommodation, please contact [email protected]. The safety of the public and workers is paramount, and we thank you for your patience during construction.

The construction work outlined in this notice is subject to change. Work may be delayed or extended due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

https://mailchi.mp/31a22e5e795a/stage-2-...-lrt-o-train-east-extension?e=f37f60b514

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Are you referring to a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI)?

If so, they are not really applicable here. A DDI is a configuration for an interchange to a limited access roadway, not an intersection; which would, generally, permit turns directly between the roads involved.

Specifically, swapping the east-bound and west-bound lanes of Riverside, where they intersect with Bank, will not really change much.

Could you see that configuration applied anywhere in our region?