Stage 2 - Trillium Line - Construction Updates

[Rick Mayson Durrett]

Drove to the airport yesterday on the Parkway and noted some great progress on the overpass for LRT Airport spur. There was one column in place on the west side of the road and looked like pouring was starting on East side. I hope they are taking into account any plan to widen the Parkway in future and making the bridge accordingly. Anyone know the plan with that regard?

[DavidBellerive]

11 hours ago, Rick Mayson Durrett said:

Drove to the airport yesterday on the Parkway and noted some great progress on the overpass for LRT Airport spur. There was one column in place on the west side of the road and looked like pouring was starting on East side. I hope they are taking into account any plan to widen the Parkway in future and making the bridge accordingly. Anyone know the plan with that regard?

Question was brought up in the last FEDCO if I recall correctly: plans are indeed built to support the widening of the Airport Parkway. Think it is done for a four lane wide final configuration.

[Shane]

The City of Ottawa has just released a memo on the Stage 2 Project procurement evaluations and three related appendices. You can view them here:

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/memo-o-train-light-rail-transit-stage-2-technical-evaluations

[Dr. Human]

This new information is actually quite worrying...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/snc-lavalin-technical-evaluation-1.5438697

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1884616

The fact that TransitNext/SNC somehow managed to win the bid despite not even meeting the 70% requirement and missing several key points from the bid (snow clearing strategies, train control system, etc.) is highly questionable. Yes, they had the lowest financial score, but is that really the most important criteria? Obviously, everyone would like the project to be as inexpensive as possible, but not to the point that we receive in return a train system that doesn't work. Considering that there were 2 other bids that reached near 85% on the technical score, it's not like as if it was there wasn't any better bid either. It's probably too late to do anything about it by now, but... it's not looking good.   

[J.OT13]

On 2019-12-06 at 10:54 AM, J.OT13 said:

I sent an email to the Stage 2 team. I'll post the response if I receive one. 

 

Took a little while, but here are the answers I received on January 17. 

 

1. On the Alstom Citadis trains currently running on Line 1, information screens (displaying the current time, next station, final destination) were only installed over the gangways on one side therefore, if a passenger sits on a seat facing the other side, or stands the other way, they are unable to see that information. Will the Stage 2 trains have display screens on both sides of each module? 

The same display screen configuration will be on the additional vehicles for the fleet servicing the future Confederation Line extensions. The new Stadler fleet servicing the future Trillium Line will have bi-directional signage.

 

2. Will ALL structures of Trillium Stage 2 (overpasses and underpasses) be built to one day accommodate double tracking? For example, the Elwood Diamond grade separated section will have a single track however, will the pillars be wide enough to eventually accommodate a second track?  Will the Carling underpass be widened to accommodate double tracking? 

The new stations and structures being constructed as part of the Trillium Line South Extension have been designed in such a way as to allow for the future conversion of the extension to twin-track electric LRT and to accommodate the planned future widening of both the Airport Parkway and Lester Road. With specific regard to the Ellwood Diamond grade separation, the project scope mandates that space be created to allow for a second track in the future, whether at-grade or on another elevated structure. At this time and as part of the Trillium extension scope, the Carling underpass will not be widened. The locations of double tracking have been optimized in such a way to minimize the need to widen the rock cut on the existing Trillium Line.

3. As it stands, the 18 month shut-down of the Trillium Line will be very inconvenient for the nearly 20,000 daily riders. Once Stage 2 opens, the ridership will increase significantly. Can the City guarantee that the work going into the Line as part of Stage 2 be enough to guarantee it will NEVER again be shut down for upgrades (future electrification, double tracking and other)?

We cannot guarantee that there won’t be another extended shutdown of the Line 2 for future works as this is outside the scope of the Stage 2 project.

 

4. It has been established that the new Civic Hospital will not be getting its own station, which makes a lot of sense considering the short distance to Carling Station however, would it be possible to one day place the station under Carling in order to have entrances on both sides of the road to better serve both the high-density north side and Dow's Lake and Civic on the south side? I'm not necessarily suggesting we do tat now, but possibly when we decide to double track the entire Line. 

Along the existing segment of the Trillium Line, the project consortium will be responsible for the design and construction of two new stations, the lengthening of existing platforms to accommodate longer trains, and the addition of select sections of double tracking, though single track will remain in place at Carling Station. There are no current plans to expand or modify Carling Station further.

Edited January 26, 2020 by J.OT13

[Shane]

Great info. Thanks for sharing with us. I’ll add it to the Stage 2 FAQ on the site. 

[Shane]

Stage 2 LRT construction update presentation from today's council and FEDCO meeting can be found below : 

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/confederation-line-stage-2-lrt-update-fedco-march-9-2020

----------

Presentations on Stage 2 Trillium Line Procurement.

--Stage 2 Light Rail Transit - Trillium Line Project - Procurement Documents.
--P3 Advisors - Trillium Line Extension Project - Fairness Commissioner - March 9th, 2020

 

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/confederation-line-stage-2-lrt-update-fedco-march-9-2020

[DavidBellerive]

While browsing the photos section, I noticed there is almost no photos of Stage 1 Trilium Line station. Of course there is not much to take, but if you have older photos or more recent, I think it is a good idea to post them for archival and posterity beyond closure!

Since a good part of the alignment is not right next to roadways and MUP, how are you all planning to follow construction, if at all? Personally I will bike along from Bayview to Carling and track some of the progress, maybe even to Greenboro / South Keys weather and time permitting and therefore document in some form the construction. However it seems like anything further south will be relatively difficult to track beyond the provided updates as the MUP will be closed and most of it takes place further from the road. The situation is definitely different for the Confederation Line as most of the construction is urban and relatively accessible so I guess snapshots and progress will be easier to assess.

[Harry Valentine]

Will anything be done about the rail - rail grade crossing between VIA Rail and OC Transpo LRT Trillium line? During evening rush hour period, VIA Rail has several trains leaving Ottawa for Toronto and arriving at Ottawa from Toronto. Is any consideration being given in regard to building an overpass for the LRT at the intersection with the VIA Rail line?

[PHrenetic]

11 hours ago, Harry Valentine said:

Will anything be done about the rail - rail grade crossing between VIA Rail and OC Transpo LRT Trillium line? During evening rush hour period, VIA Rail has several trains leaving Ottawa for Toronto and arriving at Ottawa from Toronto. Is any consideration being given in regard to building an overpass for the LRT at the intersection with the VIA Rail line?

Good Day.

Yes, indeed, this will be a major improvement that was rolled into the T-Line Phase 2 overall project early on. The O-Train line will fly over the VIA corridor and the transitway road and Sawmill creek, and dive under Heron Rd. There will be only one single track bridge built as of the last plans we saw (an error IMHO - it should have been double-track capable straight up) and the possibility for a freight level crossing just to the east side of the present alignment (although this may have changed with the CN-CP abandonment filing with Transport Canada (including Walkley Yards), which the City needs to get in on and buy various RoW of the subs). It amounts to part of the program of grade separation in the whole Ottawa transitway , roadway, and O-Train RoW situation for all of VIA (esp. with their HFR proposal), CN, and CP, with Transport Canada blessing and some funding (IIRC).

EnJoy!

BTW - Welcome to the Forum !!

Edited May 1, 2020 by PHrenetic

[occheetos]

10 hours ago, PHrenetic said:

Yes, indeed, this will be a major improvement that was rolled into the T-Line Phase 2 overall project early on

I think this was one of the last things that was formally added to the project, though it was proposed early on.

10 hours ago, PHrenetic said:

and the possibility for a freight level crossing just to the east side of the present alignment (although this may have changed with the CN-CP abandonment filing with Transport Canada (including Walkley Yards), which the City needs to get in on and buy various RoW of the subs). It amounts to part of the program of grade separation in the whole Ottawa transitway , roadway, and O-Train RoW situation for all of VIA (esp. with their HFR proposal), CN, and CP, with Transport Canada blessing and some funding (IIRC).

The freight crossing is just part of an agreement between CP and the City and I don't think it has anything to do with CP's current stakes in the Ottawa region. Definitely nothing to do with CN and their plan to abandon. The agreement was mostly just for "ensurance" that if CP ever had business to conduct in this region again, they'd still have some access to the corridor. That's very unlikely to happen though of course.

[Shane]

Gladstone MUP Detour & Access Road Construction

As part of the Stage 2 O-Train Trillium Line South Extension, a section of the Trillium Pathway on the north side of Gladstone Avenue will be closed and replaced with a temporary multi-use pathway (MUP) that will detour pedestrians and cyclists around construction activity.

WHAT: A section of the Trillium Pathway will close and will be replaced by a paved, temporary MUP.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 until the end of the construction period.

WHY: Construction of the new Gladstone station is ready to commence. To provide crews the necessary space for construction activity while ensuring that cyclists and pedestrians maintain access to the pathway system, a temporary MUP has been created that will safely detour around the construction zone.

WHERE: Please see the image below.

DATES AND HOURS OF WORK
Construction activity is primarily scheduled to occur during typical daytime construction hours between 7 am and 10 pm Monday through Friday. Intermittent night work may be required at times and will be communicated in advance through the project website at ottawa.ca/stage2 or by e-newsletter.

ANTICIPATED IMPACTS
Vehicles accessing the construction site from Gladstone Avenue will use a temporary access road that intersects with the temporary MUP. Flaggers will be positioned at this location to help manage construction vehicle access and egress and ensure the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.
Pedestrians and cyclists will be required to adhere to detour signage and use the temporary MUP to detour around construction activity.
The temporary MUP will be paved with painted lines and will be lit to the same levels as the Trillium Pathway.

[MCIBUS]

Will you be doing an update video shoot of all the stations on Line 2? I've seen the Blog photo's but will you be doing update video shoot of both Line 1 & 2?

Edited June 6, 2020 by MCIBUS

[Shane]

Hi @MCIBUS. The intention is to continue the videos on Stage 2 updates however the current pandemic and working from home makes the opportunities for doing so less than before. Rest assured once the situation improves those videos will continue. 
 

The initial plan is to continue the informative videos on each individual station and then as construction progresses to do the grouped station music videos like was done for Stage 1

[Shane]

MEMO: O-TRAIN STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2 QUARTERLY MEMO TO COUNCIL (Q2 2020)

https://www.otrainfans.ca/news/memo-o-train-stage-1-and-stage-2-quarterly-memo-to-council-q2-2020