The long-awaited return of Ottawa’s expanded north-south Trillium light rail line is coming Monday, Jan. 6.
However, it won’t run seven days a week until at least February, city officials announced at a technical briefing Friday.
For at least two weeks, trains will run on weekdays only. Saturday service will be added for at least two more weeks, followed by full seven-day service. Under this schedule, trains won’t run on Sundays until at least February 2025.
OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar said at the briefing this kind of “phased opening” will allow for more maintenance and troubleshooting on off-days.
It’s a method that’s been used recently in cities such as Montreal, Paris and Riyadh, she said.
What the reopening will bring
The first section of Ottawa’s Stage 2 rail expansion to open sees the eight-kilometre, five-stop line that ran from 2001 until May 2020 nearly triple in length to 23 kilometres.
The line will have 11 stations from Limebank station in Riverside South to Bayview station near the Ottawa River.
Trains will soon visit previous stations at Bayview, southern Little Italy at the former Carling station (now Dow’s Lake station), Carleton University, near Mooney’s Bay park and Greenboro station at the north end of South Keys mall.
Six new stations are coming: Corsi Italia further north in Little Italy off Gladstone Avenue, Walkley station on the road of the same name, South Keys station to the south of the mall of the same name, Leitrim and Bowesville at two southern Park & Rides and Limebank.
Bayview station is the connecting point between the Trillium Line, also called Line 2, and east-west Confederation Line a.k.a. Line 1.
Going all the way between Bayview and Limebank should take about 35 minutes on a normal day, says OC Transpo.
Google Maps suggests driving that stretch takes anywhere from 25 to 55 minutes during rush hour and 20 to 25 minutes with minimal traffic.
There’s also a new four-kilometre spur line, officially called Line 4, that runs between South Keys, Uplands station near the EY Centre and the Ottawa International Airport. OC Transpo says travelling this line will take “minutes.”
Trains on both lines will run roughly 12 minutes apart, the city says, for about five trains an hour.
The Trillium Line was originally meant to reopen in 2022 but has faced numerous delays. Route 2 buses have been running between South Keys and Bayview in the meantime.
The system successfully finished three weeks of trial running in October.
The weeks since have been about regulatory approvals, emergency drills, training staff and work on projects such as switches at Gladstone station and replacing some elevator sensors, according to OC Transpo leadership.
The city’s independent safety auditor has not yet finished its safety review, they added Friday.
New trains from Switzerland’s Stadler will run on Line 2, while the previous Alstom trains are more for Line 4.
Current bus routes, including Route 2, will keep running for a period of time when the lines open, but changes are eventually planned in April.
The nearly $5-billion rail transit expansion will also extend tracks east to Trim Road and west to Algonquin College and Moodie Drive.
The most recent target for opening the eastern expansion was the summer of 2025, though staff recently said that could happen closer to the end of next year. The western extension could open in late 2026 or early 2027.