Airport Rail Link

[The Conductor]

I have a feeling it might get done on time actually

Originally Posted by Catenary

Like the Confederation Line and many other projects, the heavy civil work tends to be the easy stuff. It's also first on the to-do list, not reliant on anything else being done on time. They could be 2 months late right now and we would barely notice.

Delays tend to stack later on in major projects, as one thing runs late and delays other tasks. System integration is a major factor as you never know what you're dealing with when integrating with legacy systems. Hopefully the relatively modern signalling on the Trillium Line makes this easy, but you never know. We also have the trains and maintenance facility to consider.

[The Conductor]

Originally Posted by caboose

Understood. We can hope.

It's not just hope - it really looks to be getting ahead of the timeline

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by The Conductor

It's not just hope - it really looks to be getting ahead of the timeline

Sadly, we heard this kind of comment about the Confederation Line in the early-ish stages.

[The Conductor]

Originally Posted by silvergate

Sadly, we heard this kind of comment about the Confederation Line in the early-ish stages.

The advantage this time is that we don't really have tunnel issues or sinkholes to worry about

[The Conductor]

Originally Posted by Catenary

There is no tunnel at Mooney's Bay. Heron road passes over the tracks on a bridge, albeit one that is much wider than it is long.

Good point, my mistake!

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by silvergate

Sadly, we heard this kind of comment about the Confederation Line in the early-ish stages.

On time, under budget!

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by The Conductor

It's not just hope - it really looks to be getting ahead of the timeline

Good Day.

Not really - remember: by contract, the Airport Spur (and close-in southern extension line) is required to have the major works completed by about the end of this year (ie: bridges, station foundation structures, berms), so that there is no interference with Transport Canada, NavCan, OMCIA, NRC, etc. operations and other plans and constructions. Anticipate that progress will then see a dramatic slowdown as they concentrate on the rest of the T-Line, so that the rest of the sub-contractors are properly phased and timed.

EnJoy!

[The Conductor]

I really LOVE how the station is directly beside the terminal for really easy access in and out of the airport. This might be my FAV station so far!

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

Good Day.

Not really - remember: by contract, the Airport Spur (and close-in southern extension line) is required to have the major works completed by about the end of this year (ie: bridges, station foundation structures, berms), so that there is no interference with Transport Canada, NavCan, OMCIA, NRC, etc. operations and other plans and constructions. Anticipate that progress will then see a dramatic slowdown as they concentrate on the rest of the T-Line, so that the rest of the sub-contractors are properly phased and timed.

EnJoy!

Good Day.

Furthur to my comment above, a rocketphish post 4567 of an article over in the OMCIA thread points to the background reasoning :

Ottawa cargo flights climb as carriers rush to meet growing demand
By: OBJ360 Content Studio , Published: Aug 28, 2020 10:58am EDT
[This article is sponsored by the Ottawa International Airport Authority.]

EnJoy!

[The Conductor]

Great updates here:

https://otrain.railfans.ca/snapshot-updates-2/snapshot-of-uplands-station-august-24-2020

[The Conductor]

Does anyone have any updated pictures of the airport line?

[Gat-Train]

Ottawa cargo flights climb as carriers rush to meet growing demand
By: OBJ360 Content Studio , Published: Aug 28, 2020 10:58am EDT
[This article is sponsored by the Ottawa International Airport Authority.]

Wouldn't it be great if we also used the airport spur to run freight trains, and possibly start removing some of the truck traffic from our streets?

[caboose]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

Wouldn't it be great if we also used the airport spur to run freight trains, and possibly start removing some of the truck traffic from our streets?

That would definitely need a doubling, or maybe tripling of the line!

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

Wouldn't it be great if we also used the airport spur to run freight trains, and possibly start removing some of the truck traffic from our streets?

The tracks don't go anywhere useful to freight though. And since the whole thing is single tracked, you'd have to give up passenger service frequency to do this. All to simply load and unload cargo for a few kms.....

[Gat-Train]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The tracks don't go anywhere useful to freight though. And since the whole thing is single tracked, you'd have to give up passenger service frequency to do this. All to simply load and unload cargo for a few kms.....

Refurbish the POW Bridge, then you don't have to run 100000 trucks a day through Lowertown.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

Refurbish the POW Bridge, then you don't have to run 100000 trucks a day through Lowertown.

Think this through. You'd probably need three tracks so passenger services aren't impacted. Not even sure that could be done. Next you're loading a container on in Quebec and unloading in Ontario (or vice versa). What shipping company would agree to that additional handling and cost just to bypass Ottawa? Banning trucks from simply using the Cartier Bridge does the same thing, without needing to spend money on adding tracks.

[rocketphish]

I merged the recent "Airport O-Train line & Station" thread into the existing "Airport Rail Link" thread for continuity.

[Gat-Train]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Think this through. You'd probably need three tracks so passenger services aren't impacted. Not even sure that could be done. Next you're loading a container on in Quebec and unloading in Ontario (or vice versa). What shipping company would agree to that additional handling and cost just to bypass Ottawa? Banning trucks from simply using the Cartier Bridge does the same thing, without needing to spend money on adding tracks.

Run the freight trains at night after passenger service has ended. Transfer the cargo onto the Confederation Line and you get the freight directly into downtown, which can then be shuttled to its final destination via cargo bike.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

Run the freight trains at night after passenger service has ended. Transfer the cargo onto the Confederation Line and you get the freight directly into downtown, which can then be shuttled to its final destination via cargo bike.

I doubt most of the freight going across is the kind that would wait for night, just to use rail to get across the river at night. If you were a freight operator facing that rule, you'd just bypass Ottawa.

Also intermodal means you need two trucks. One at the point of loading. One at the point of unloading. That's not exactly feasible for a lot of shippers just to cross one river.

[caboose]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

Run the freight trains at night after passenger service has ended. Transfer the cargo onto the Confederation Line and you get the freight directly into downtown, which can then be shuttled to its final destination via cargo bike.

That sounds like a good idea - I'm sure that functionality could be added to Bayview.