Confederation Line

Future
Overview
Type	Light rail
Stations	13
Website	Confederation Line
Operation
Operator(s)	OC Transpo
Rolling stock	Alstom Citadis Spirit
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend East Transitway Blair Cyrville St. Laurent Tremblay · VIA Rail Hurdman · Southeast Transitway Rideau River uOttawa · Lees Rideau Rideau Canal Parliament Lyon Pimisi Bayview · O-Train Tunney's Pasture Southwest Transitway West Transitway

Confederation Line is a light rail transit (LRT) line under construction in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The “Confederation Line” will be part of the O-Train network of OC Transpo while the existing line will be known as the “Trillium Line”.^[1]

The project was approved by Ottawa City Council^[2] and the contract was awarded in December 2012. Construction of the downtown portion of the project will be substantially completed by 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation. At a cost of just over $2 billion, it is the largest infrastructure project awarded in the history of the city.^[3]

History

The line was approved unanimously by the City Council on December 19, 2012 after many years of debate on a rapid transit network for the city. The line represents the initial phase of the network and will be implemented through a 30-year Design-Build-Finance-Maintenance agreement with the Rideau Transit Group.^[4] The Citadis Spirit light train will be used to provide passenger service.

Route and stations

Route

Plans call for Confederation Line to extend from Tunney's Pasture station in the west to Blair Road at Highway 174 in the east (Blair station), a distance of 12.5 km^[3] including a tunnel running under Queen Street in the central business district.

Stations

There will be 13 stations along the line. It is proposed to change some of the names for stations shown on earlier plans to better reflect community locale and to be bilingual.^[5] The three downtown subway stations are to have 120 metre platforms; the remainder will be 90 metres with provision for future expansion.

• Tunney's Pasture station, a major federal government employment area and transfer point with the Southwest Transitway to Barrhaven and West Transitway to Kanata.
• Bayview station, a major transfer point with the north-south O-Train to south Ottawa.
• Pimisi station (previously called Lebreton station) is planned to have an aboriginal theme in consultation with the Algonquins of Ontario; the location will improve transit connections with Gatineau and create a new transit node along Booth Street.
• Lyon station, located under Queen Street, replacing the Bay and Kent stations. To be integrated with Place de Ville's underground concourse.
• Parliament station (original plans showed it as Downtown East), located under Queen Street, replacing the Bank and Metcalfe stations. Direct connection to the Sun Life Centre.
• Rideau station, located under Rideau Street, integration with the Rideau Centre complex. Replaces the existing Mackenzie King Station and will be the most important transfer station, providing transfers between the Confederation Line and the city's urban bus routes to the east (Montreal Road) and south (Bank Street).
• uOttawa station (originally called Campus station), to be built over the existing station, also replacing Laurier Station, serving the University of Ottawa.
• Lees station
• Hurdman station, a major transfer point with the Southeast Transitway to south Ottawa.
• Tremblay station (originally called Train station), a transfer point to Via Rail inter-regional services at Ottawa Train Station. A pedestrian bridge is to be built to serve Ottawa Stadium north of the Queensway.
• St. Laurent station, integrated with the St. Laurent Shopping Centre. Major transfer between the Confederation line and east end bus routes. Possibly the simplest conversion since it is already underground.
• Cyrville station
• Blair station, a major transfer point between with the East Transitway (Route 95) to Orleans.

Vehicle

The Citadis Spirit (wider variant of Citadis 302) light trainset has been ordered and will be assembled in Alstom's plant in Hornell, New York with final assembly in Ottawa at the new Belfast yards.^[6][7]

Depot

A new depot and rail yard will be built at Belfast Road and St-Laurent Boulevard, directly behind OC Transpo's headquarters and main bus depot (down the track from Tremblay station).

Rail signalling

Signalling will be handled by Thales’ SelTrac semi-automatic communication-based train control (CBTC) technology.^[8] Thales will design, build, maintain the system, and support its installation and commissioning.

Construction

In mid-April 2015, OC Transpo posted a list of bus route changes as a result of the closure of the Transitway between Lees Station and Cyrville Station.^[9] As a result of the closure, many new routes are being created and existing routes modified, most notably routes 94, 95, and 96. Many routes will use new bus-only lanes on Highway 417, and several others will be altered or shortened to avoid serving the construction area. The changes are meant to provide extra service to those in areas affected by the Transitway closure, and to avoid as many delays as possible while construction on the Confederation Line progresses.

Expansion beyond phase 1

In November 2013, the City of Ottawa released its new transportation master plan^[10] which includes 35 kilometres of new rapid transit and 19 new stations. This would extend the City's rapid transit service to the west at Bayshore Shopping Centre, south west at Algonquin College's Baseline Station, south to Riverside South and Place d'Orleans to the east.

The City's plans to start construction as soon as the first phase is complete in 2018. The full system would be operational by 2023. The plan is however dependent on financial commitment from the upper tier governments ($1 billion from each level, for a total of $3 billion). The Government of Ontario has committed in principal based on the governing party's 2014 election campaign platform.

The city is working on finalizing plans^[11] for the current gap in service between Dominion Station and Lincoln Fields Station where buses travel a little over 4 kilometres without stopping on the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway. The plan calls for burying trains for most of the route, creating a shorter, straighter alignment. The new route will also include two new rapid transit stations in an urban area with plenty of densification opportunities.

See also

• O-Train (Trillium Line)
• Ottawa Rapid Transit

References

Inline citations

Bibliography

External links

• Confederation Line – official website