Trillium Line
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The Trillium Line (french: Ligne Trillium), also called O-Train Line 2 (french: Ligne 2 de l'O-Train), is a diesel light rail transit (DLRT) service in
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Ontario, Canada, operated by
OC Transpo OC Transpo, officially the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, is the public transit agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operates an integrated hub-and-spoke system including light metro, bus rapid transit, conventional ...
. The line has been closed since May 2020 for service expansion. Part of the
O-Train The O-Train is a light metro transit system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operated by OC Transpo. The O-Train system has two lines, the electrically-operated Confederation Line (Line 1) and the diesel-operated Trillium Line (Line 2). Since May 20 ...
light rail system, the line runs north–south for between Bayview and Greenboro. The line is a single track, with three passing sidings on dedicated rights-of-way shared with Ottawa Central freight trains south of Walkley Yard, which occasionally serve the
National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...
's Automotive and Surface Transportation Research Centre. Despite being a local public transit line, it is actually a federally regulated mainline railway and operated under the official name "Capital Railway", which appears on the trains in addition to the service's logo. All stations except have single platforms. Between 2013 and 2015, the line was upgraded and its fleet replaced, cutting wait times during peak periods from 15 minutes to 12 minutes. On May 3, 2020, the line was shut down for a three-year upgrade and expansion project, which will add eight stations and of track, including a spur to Macdonald–Cartier International Airport. During its closure, service along the line is being provided by buses. The upgraded and expanded line is expected to reopen in 2023.


History


Pilot project

The Trillium Line was introduced on October 15, 2001, as a pilot project to provide an alternative to the
Transitway Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
on which Ottawa had long depended exclusively for its high-grade transit service. The single-track line operated with five stations and a single passing loop at
Carleton station Carleton is a light rail station located along the Trillium Line at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Carleton is currently the only O-Train station along the Trillium Line with separate tracks and platforms for each direction, in order t ...
. As a pilot project, the Trillium Line system was built at the cost of , relatively little compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars usually required to build a new transit line. It runs on an existing
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
track (Ellwood and Prescott subdivisions of
Bytown and Prescott Railway The Bytown and Prescott Railway (B&PR) was a railway joining Ottawa (then called Bytown) with Prescott on the Saint Lawrence River. The company was incorporated in 1850, and the first train ran from Prescott into Bytown on Christmas Day, 1854. Th ...
), so the only construction work necessary was to build the stations themselves and the passing tracks necessary to allow trains to operate in both directions. From 2001 until 2015, the system used three diesel-powered Bombardier Talent BR643
low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
trains. It was, however, described as "light rail", partly because plans called for it to be extended into Ottawa's downtown as a tramway-like service, and partly because the Talent vehicles, though designed for mainline railways in Europe, are much smaller and lighter than most mainline trains in North America, and do not meet the Association of American Railroads' standards for crash strength. Ottawa is also authorized to run trains with only a single operator and no other crew, something rare on mainline railways in North America. Until late 2014, the official name of the diesel-powered, north–south line was "O-Train". After construction started on a second, east–west light rail line (the
Confederation Line The Confederation Line (french: Ligne de la Confédération), also called O-Train Line 1 (french: Ligne 1 de l'O-Train), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as part of the city's O-Train light rail system. I ...
), the O-Train name was applied to the entire system, and the north–south line was renamed the "Trillium Line".


Original service

Ticketing on the Trillium Line originally worked entirely on a proof-of-payment basis; there were no ticket barriers or
turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...
s, and the driver did not check fares. Occasionally, OC Transpo Special Constables or other employees prompted passengers for proof-of-payment. Tickets can be purchased from a vending machine on the platform, and certain bus passes are also valid for the Trillium Line. Trillium Line tickets were exchanged for bus transfers upon boarding a bus. Although bus transfers can be used to board the O-Train, prepaid bus tickets cannot. The European trains are narrower than the North American standard. In order to enable night-time use of the line by standard-width freight services, retractable platform extenders are mounted at each station (other than Bayview which is constructed on its own private rail spur). Passengers gain access to the Trillium Line on these extenders. If the line is used for freight, the extenders are retracted allowing a wider train to pass through the station. The extender interface with the train has been refined over time, and cyclists and wheelchair users now have no trouble accessing the train. The service frequency of a train every fifteen minutes made it possible to run the line with a fleet of just three trains (of which only two were in service at any given time) and a single track, apart from passing sidings at
Carleton station Carleton is a light rail station located along the Trillium Line at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Carleton is currently the only O-Train station along the Trillium Line with separate tracks and platforms for each direction, in order t ...
. The Trillium Line hit the 1-millionth rider mark on May 29, 2002, the 5-millionth mark on January 21, 2005, and the 10-millionth in late 2010. In mid-2011, the Trillium Line carried an average of approximately 12,000 riders each day.


Awards

In June 2002, the O-Train Light Rail Transit project received the Canadian Urban Transit Association’s Corporate Innovation Award. On January 16, 2003, the Ontario chapter of the
American Public Works Association The American Public Works Association (APWA) is a nonprofit, professional association of public works agencies, private companies, and individuals dedicated to promoting professional excellence and public awareness through education, advocacy and ...
(APWA) presented the City of Ottawa,
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
and
Morrison Hershfield Morrison Hershfield is an employee-owned professional services firm providing engineering and management consulting services in the areas of energy and industrial, buildings, technology and telecom, transportation, environment, water and wastew ...
with the APWA Public Works Project of the Year award in the transportation category. This award was established to highlight excellence in the management and administration of public works projects by recognizing the alliance between the managing agency, the consultant and the contractors who, working together, complete public works projects. A third award the Trillium Line light rail transit project received was in May 2003, in the sustainable transportation category of the FCM-CH2M Hill Sustainable Community Awards.


Criticism of pilot project

The main complaints about the Trillium Line pilot have revolved around its placement and ridership levels. The Trillium Line's route was determined by existing railway tracks, rather than the parts of the city that needed public transport, which would have required new tracks to be laid.
Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...
students, however, benefited from the Trillium Line pilot project, as it connected the university to the busy
Ottawa Transitway The Transitway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) network operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It comprises a series of bus-only roadways and reserved lanes on city streets and highways. The dedicated busways ensure that buses and emerge ...
system. The other criticism is that there is very low ridership of the trains compared to some very crowded bus lines such as the 90–99 series routes. One fully loaded Trillium Line train carries 285 passengers compared to 131 passengers for an
articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a banana bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, wiggle wagon, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usua ...
. The O-Train schedule is limited by track capacity.


Early extension plans

In July 2006, Ottawa City Council approved a north–south light rail expansion project. The project would have terminated diesel light rail service on the Trillium Line so as to reuse its right-of-way for a double-track, electric light rail line that would have extended west from the
University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
to Bayview then south to Leitrim and then west to
Barrhaven Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 103, ...
. However, in December 2006, Ottawa City Council cancelled this project, thus leaving the diesel-powered Trillium Line unchanged.


Service improvements

On May 18, 2011, OC Transpo approved a $200,000 study to expand the Trillium Line. The $59-million proposal included the purchase of six new trainsets and track improvements that would decrease headways from 15 minutes to 8 minutes. The project would finally cost $60.3million. In mid-2013, service on the Trillium Line was suspended for four months to implement service and track improvements such as new station platforms and two new passing tracks (near Brookfield and Gladstone). Upgrades were also made to the signal system, train controls, stations, tracks and train yard. A new centralized traffic control system was installed to improve safety and efficiency. Six new
Alstom Coradia LINT The Alstom Coradia LINT is an articulated railcar manufactured by Alstom since 1999, offered in diesel and hydrogen fuel models. The acronym ''LINT'' is short for the German ''"leichter innovativer Nahverkehrstriebwagen"'' (light innovative loca ...
trainsets (replacing the three older Bombardier Talent units) and the two extra passing loops allowed the number of trains on the line to double to four. Expanded service began on March 2, 2015, but suffered numerous problems during the first week. Although the changes were intended to improve frequency to eight minutes, the Trillium Line would ultimately operate at twelve minute frequency. After the completion of the Stage 2 project, the line was originally planned to continue operating using single-car trains; however, because of the lower-than-intended frequency, the city was forced to adjust the Stage 2 plan to include longer trains and platforms to compensate.


Derailment

On August 11, 2014, train C3 derailed while traveling northbound over the switch just south of Carleton station. The cause was determined to be a faulty spring switch that had not closed properly as well as the operator failing to follow regulations and physically inspect the switch after spotting a signal irregularity. No serious injuries occurred as a result of the derailment; however, train C3 received damage and was taken out of service. C3 was never repaired and never returned to service and as a result the line continued to operate with only two operational trains until the following March when the new Alstom LINT trains entered service. In June 2017, the spring switches at Carleton were replaced with powered switches.


Stage 2 expansion

As part of the city's Stage 2 LRT project, the Trillium Line will be extended in the south, including a branch to Macdonald–Cartier International Airport and the EY Centre, with four new stations at
South Keys South Keys is a neighbourhood in Gloucester-Southgate Ward in the south end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by Johnston Road to the north, Albion Road to the east, the Airport Parkway to the west, and Hunt Club Road to the south. Accordi ...
, Leitrim, Bowesville and Limebank in Riverside South. There will be a new passing loop at South Keys station and the track will be fully doubled from the Leitrim Road overpass to Limebank station. The full extension will be grade separated. In addition, two more stations will be built along the existing portion of the line at Gladstone and Walkley. The project will also include a number of other significant upgrades including the lengthening of all existing passing loops, the purchase of seven new trains, the doubling in length of all existing platforms, the grade separation of the Ellwood diamond to allow Via trains to cross underneath the Trillium Line, the rehabilitation of rail bridges over the Rideau River and of the Dow's Lake rail tunnel, the upgrading of the signalling system to allow the implementation of
positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...
, the construction of several new pedestrian tunnels and overpasses, and numerous guideway and vehicle rehabilitation projects. The contract for this project was approved on March 7, 2019, by city council, with construction of the airport spur beginning in mid-2019. The project was expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022 but has been delayed to May 2023 at the earliest. The airport link will run from Macdonald–Cartier International Airport north to South Keys station, where riders will need to change trains to continue to Bayview station. South Keys station will feature an island platform to facilitate cross-platform transfers for passengers arriving from the airport branch to trains bound for Bayview station. The city is not contributing any money to this spur, with the funding instead coming from the federal and provincial governments, as well as the airport authority. On February 22, 2019, the city announced that the selected proponent to construct the project was TransitNEXT, a wholly owned subsidiary of
SNC-Lavalin SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, environment and water, infrastructure, a ...
. This decision was controversial as the federal government and SNC-Lavalin were involved in a political scandal at the time, which led to extra scrutiny by city councillors, with some calling for a delay on the vote to approve the contract in order to allow more time for review. Ultimately Council voted not to delay the approval and the contract was approved on March 7, 2019. It was later revealed that TransitNEXT's bid had not met the minimum technical scoring threshold in order to be considered, which continued the controversy. The city eventually explained that the decision to award the contract to TransitNEXT was done at the discretion of city staff to get a better deal for the city and was within the rules of the procurement process. An investigation conducted by the city's auditor general later confirmed that the authority delegated by council gave city staff sole discretion on whether to allow a bid to proceed even if it had not met the minimum scoring threshold, and that staff had otherwise correctly followed the entire procurement process that had been approved by council. Work on the Stage 2 extension began in mid-2019, starting with the clear-cutting of trees along the corridors that will be used by the extension. Construction of the airport spur is expected to be completed in 2020 to give the airport authority time to rebuild the terminal and connect it to the future station.


Further extensions

Extending the Trillium Line across the Ottawa River into
Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...
across the Chief William Commanda Bridge had been proposed as early as the original pilot project proposal. The city's certificate of fitness for the Trillium Line, issued by the Canadian Transportation Authority in 2001, indicates that it operates between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, despite the line never having actually operated across the river. The city even considered converting the rail bridge into a pedestrian crossing at one point. When the city announced the contract awards for Stage 2, it also presented a map of the O-Train network that included proposed extensions that would be a part of a Stage 3 phase, including extensions to Kanata, Barrhaven, and Gatineau. On September 24, 2019, the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau jointly announced that they no longer intended to use the Chief William Commanda Bridge for any kind of rail connection, citing capacity concerns at Bayview station. Despite the announcement, the future of the bridge remains uncertain since city staff later indicated that the bridge is still in the city's long term transit plans, though it could be converted for use as a pedestrian bridge in the interim. More on the future of the bridge as a rail link will be announced in the second quarter of 2020 when the city of Gatineau will present the results of a long-term transit study.


Stations

, ticket barriers are installed and operational in all Line 2 stations. They were initially installed in all stations except for Bayview in order to test the hardware and software of the fare gate system before it was installed in all thirteen stations on the Line 1 Confederation Line. The Trillium Line stations have large, bus-style sheltered waiting areas for passengers. All stations have level boarding platforms to allow for
wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...
and easier boarding for all passengers. Elevators are available at Greenboro (for Transitway riders), Dow's Lake (for Line 2 riders) and Bayview (for train transfers within the fare-paid zone).


Fleet

The Trillium Line initially used three Bombardier Talent
diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
(DMU) trains for service. Each train (numbered C1–C3) consisted of three cars, with the front and rear powered and the centre towed. The trains were originally ordered by
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...
and later delivered to OC Transpo. After being retired in 2015, the units were put up for auction multiple times but a deal to sell the vehicles was never successfully established. They are now slated to be scrapped. In September 2011,
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
announced that it would deliver six new two-car Coradia LINT train sets in 2013; the trains were handed over to OC Transpo in June 2013. These trains were put into service on March 2, 2015, and the Bombardier Talent units were subsequently retired. On May 3, 2018, it was announced that the city would be purchasing seven new Stadler FLIRT trains to use on the extended Trillium Line after the completion of Stage 2. These trains will be approximately long, which is double the length of the current Coradia LINT trains. The new trains will operate alongside coupled pairs of the existing LINT trains on the main line as part of a mixed fleet. These vehicles will be manufactured in Switzerland before being transported to Canada for final assembly. The trains will have a diesel-electric drive with the possibility of future electrification. The first FLIRT vehicle was delivered on October 7, 2021, and began testing on the weekend of January 15, 2022.


Facilities

Train sets are stored at the
Walkley Yard Walkley Yard was built in 1955 by the National Capital Commission to relocate the Canadian National Railway yard, to make way for construction of the Queensway. The northerly part was later acquired by the current owner Canadian Pacific Railway ...
located northeast of the Greenboro station. Before their retirement, the Bombardier Talent trainsets were maintained by
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
at the Walkley facilities. Bombardier continues to perform maintenance of the Trillium Line fleet, which included standstill maintenance of the retired Bombardier Talent trains until March 8, 2018. The Walkley Yard was built in 1955 by the
National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...
for the
Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...
and later sold to the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
. The yard has enclosed buildings for repairs and outdoor storage tracks. As part of the Stage 2 project, a new maintenance facility will be built adjacent and to the west of the existing facilities. The construction of the new yard facilities began in 2019.


See also

*
Confederation Line The Confederation Line (french: Ligne de la Confédération), also called O-Train Line 1 (french: Ligne 1 de l'O-Train), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as part of the city's O-Train light rail system. I ...
* Letsgomoose *
Light rail in Canada Urban rail transit in Canada encompasses a broad range of rail mass transit systems, including commuter rail, rapid transit, light rail, and streetcar systems. Terminology * "Commuter rail" refers to urban passenger train service between a ...
*
Light rail in North America Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in North America. The term '' light rail'' was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the U.S. Federal Transit Administration) to describe new str ...
*
List of tram and light rail transit systems The following is a list of cities that have current tram, tram/streetcar (including Heritage streetcar, heritage trams/heritage streetcars), or light rail systems as part of their regular public transport, public transit systems. In other word ...
*
Prince of Wales Bridge A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
*
Rapibus The Rapibus is a bus rapid transit system for the Société de Transport de l'Outaouais ( STO) in the city of Gatineau, Quebec. Construction was completed in the summer of 2013 with service beginning in the fall. The Rapibus aims to speed up ...


References


External links


OC Transpo – O-Train Line 2 Trillium Line (official site)

City of Ottawa - LRT Stage 2 - Trillium Line South Extension
including map and station renderings * 200



(Internet Archive)
O-Train construction pictures


{{OC Transpo O-Train Railway lines opened in 2001 Light rail in Canada 2001 establishments in Ontario Rapid transit lines in Canada