Discussions on Tremblay Station.

A few notes on Tremblay Station. I've seen many complaints on SSP about the lack of indoor connection between Tremblay and VIA. From my observations however, the distance between the two seems quite insignificant. It's a very short walk from door to door. And even if there was an indoor connection, it wouldn't matter since the O-Train Station is outdoors anyway. 

The lack of escalators is another complaint, which I agree with more. In the grand scheme of things, this is still far better than the Transitway Station, or the 20 or so years where the station had little transit service. 

I was in Vancouver earlier this month and visited the Pacific Central Station, their VIA/Amtrack terminal. One of those grand old stations, similar to old Union in Ottawa (though old Union is (was?) probably the grandest of them all). It's closer to downtown than Ottawa's current station however, still too far to be realistically accessible on foot. The surrounding area is a little rough. It doesn't have any office, residential or hotel uses adjacent to it (Ottawa has a hotel and conference centre complex across the Max Keeping Bridge). The path between the station and Main-Science World Skytrain Station left to be desired; one has to walk a fair distance, crossing three lanes of vehicular traffic, walk thorough a dark (at night), sketchy park full of Canada Geese and their droppings and a homeless camp next to the Skytrain Station. 

With all the complaints about our VIA Station's location and connectivity with the transit, the O-Train has transformed the way I see this modernist gem and its place in our city. Though it hasn't moved in 53 years, it seems much closer to downtown now than ever before. 

As for the tunnel across the tracks to Train Yards, the exciting VIA concourse does not go all the way to the other side as far as I know. I've heard that a tunnel exists between the station and Canada Post, however it is no longer in use. Maybe that one could eventually be utilized. 

I agree with your comments. The station could have been more directly attached to the VIA Rail terminal, however it is not far and only a 1-2 minute way away, almost half of which is relatively sheltered.

The escalators I don't see an issue with. If people are arriving with luggage, it is preferred and safer that they use the elevators anyways, of which there are two per platform side.

I completely agree there should be a connection to the Train Yards shopping area, and this is definitely a sore point, one I am hopeful gets rectified in the relative near future. I do not know which option to achieve this would be best, a tunnel or an overhead walkway. I feel like a tunnel would be a potential safety concern for people if the flow of people is low and irregular. An overhead walkway would offer better visibility and a better feeling of security. Plus it would probably be cheaper to build than a tunnel.

Now the fun part, who funds such a connection? The city, doubtful. The Train Yards management, probably, it would be in their best interest to have better transit connection.

Hoping it would be done in the near future. Would definitely encourage me to go more often.

Oh I disagree about the Via Rail and LRT connect..in fact..made a video about it yesterday!

https://youtu.be/6-gvYN5dhA8

 

Great video. On a sidenote, I had read someplace that Tremblay does have the future possibility of connectivity with the VIA Rail station. Beyond that I do not know what that theoretically entails or in what way it could be done. Doesn't change the current situation but perhaps in the future...

Over the past few years I've been collecting the renders RTG and the city would put out with the idea that I would compare them to what has actually been built. I went out today and did the first batch of stations and images. I still have more images to process but here's an initial look at renders compared to reality for Tremblay.

On 2019-10-03 at 9:58 PM, Herlsone said:

Oh I disagree about the Via Rail and LRT connect..in fact..made a video about it yesterday!

https://youtu.be/6-gvYN5dhA8

 

Subbed! (The Angry Ranter Vlogs) and I have also done a Vlog on the Train!

 

 

Tremblay might be my favourite station architecturally. It offers a great introduction to tourists and business travelers coming into the city. I can see so much potential over the next few years, from most likely to least likely:

• Return of baseball in 2021, marking the first time the station, Max Keeping Bridge and baseball all all active at once.
• Link to Train Yards, Federal office buildings and future developments.
• HFR, which could increase VIA's ridership significantly, and by extension the O-Train Station. 
• Redevelopment of the parking lots around the station.
• Lansdowne type redevelopment of the baseball stadium lands.
• Redevelopment of big box stores between the baseball stadium and St-Laurent shopping centre (also prime for redevelopment), which could create a continuous 1.5 kilometer urban district.

 

 

In Watson's budget speech today, the City will fund a study a "VIA Rail-Train Yards multi-use pathway". I assume that would mean a tunnel or pedestrian bridge to connect both sides of the tracks.