Are any model railroaders working on Ottawa's Woe-Train?

Back in the fall of 2019 I had plans to write extensively about Ottawa's then brand new Light Rail Transit system, the OTrain. I even got press credentials to ride on the inaugural run.

Although that press event was pulled off without a hitch as they say, from then on it was one LRT problem after another right up until now. The problems kept coming so fast and were so serious that I stopped writing about the LRT because I didn't want the blog to become dominated by that terrible system. 

If you want to read about the LRT's entire tale of woe, Sarah Trick of TVO wrote an excellent summary, Ottawa's colossal LRT debacle: A brief-ish history, and there's an equally good one by Brett Popplewell at The Walrus, Ottawa's Transit Gong Show, from February of this year. If you think you can stomach all the details, you can find the final report of the public inquiry here.

So, why am I writing about the LRT today? Well, I had a gallows humour chuckle at the most recent problem noted in the CBC report, Axle bearings on Ottawa LRT might need to be redesigned. It seems like this might be the result of certain too sharp curves that were laid too flat (track issues were reported in, LRT inquiry commissioner still concerned about wheel and track problems). Are there any model railroaders on their team? Any model railroader with the slightest experience has learned - usually the hard way - that you can't run long trains with long cars on tight radius track. You get binding and jamming and derailments. And you need generous easements too. Often the only way to improve operations and resolve frustrations is to rip up the track and start fresh, maybe with a new layout - easy for a model railroad, impossible for the real thing.

If you're a longtime reader here you may recall I wrote about a fictional HO-scale layout of the entire transit system of New Toronto in my 2013 pulp novella, Light Ray Blues. It was run by the University of New Toronto's Lone Trainmen, and you can read about it here. That fictional layout's purpose was to physically simulate operations and root out potential problems like the ones we're seeing with Ottawa's LRT. If anyone from the LRT is reading this, I can give you the number of the Lone Trainmen :-)

Ottawa's LRT continues to inspire songs

This one is for a more mature audience than the earlier one, but things are getting weirder by the day. The derailment that caused the shutdown of Ottawa's entire LRT system happened on 19 September. It's been down since that event. At first, the estimate was for a 3 week shutdown, and now the projection is until ‘early’ November, which at best will be 1 Nov. At that time the plan is to run limited service with 7 trains and 1 spare. The LRT has 17 trains, so slightly less than half the fleet may return to service 43 days after the shutdown began. The public has not yet been informed what the problem is. I'll leave you with the original:

The Wheels on the O-Train

Normally I only post once a day, however I had a special request to post this video. Ottawa's OTrain continues to have serious problems. On 8 August a train derailed - luckily it was out-of-service and no one was injured - and the recently released Transportation Safety Board report found that it was due to a wheel severed from an axle, which likely could have been avoided if the city had purchased heat-detection equipment for the trains (The full sorry story: Ottawa LRT derailment happened after hours of problems, TSB says.)

Then on Sunday, 19 September a second derailment occurred near Tremblay station. This one was more serious. Thirteen passengers were onboard, none injured, trackside signalling equipment and switch heaters were ripped out. Long story short, the TSB is investigating this one too, and the entire system has been shutdown for at least 3 weeks. No one is commenting on when it will reopen. (Here's the long story: LRT train derailed before entering station, then travelled across a bridge, says TSB)

The last derailment was so serious even the Toronto Star picked up the story, Why the bumpy, two-year ride of Ottawa's multibillion-dollar LRT system is sparking calls for a public inquiry. The Star's coverage is the best summary I've read of the situation.

Basically, Ottawa's LRT is a lemon, and it's looking like we're all going to have our wallets squeezed to fix it.

And speaking of photos from car windows....

Photo by Debra; as you can see, my hands are firmly on the wheel.

We took a little westward trip out to the country today, and along the way we saw the body - or should I say fuselage - of an Alstom Citdas Spirit in OTrain colours being hauled east to Ottawa on a flat-bed truck.

It was not so easy taking this picture. Once I realized what was coming our way, we had to find the camera, turn it on, and then Debra had to quickly take a photo. No easy task, but trust me, that's a Spirit body. It turns out that was one of two Spirits-on-a-Flat-Bed we saw, and we also saw an OCTranspo bus being towed west to meet its fate in some garage somewhere. The photo is in the impressionist school, but no model will result :-)

An upcoming LRT anniversary scarred by a pandemic and operational failure

Non-mask wearing, non-social-distanced inaugural LRT ride on 14 Sept 2019

September 14th marks the first anniversary of the inaugural run of Ottawa's LRT Confederation Line. At this time last year I was happily looking forward to that event. One year later things look very different. 

Almost from the time the system entered regular service it has been plagued by constant malfunctions and extensive service disruptions. As time has gone on, the list of problems has included: train doors that keep getting jammed, failures of onboard and system control computers, frozen switches, brake problems, wheel flat spots, track cracks, pantographs snagging overhead wires, track that won't withstand summer heat, and parts falling off trains. And as of this July, cracks in the wheels has been added to the list; a problem so serious that the federal government's Transportation Safety Board has had to be called in to investigate. In their latest story on the LRT the CBC reports that the promised complement of 15 trains still isn't reliably available during peak periods, and it's not clear when it will be. On top of these technical woes, the pandemic has caused a 70 to 90% reduction in ridership across the entire OCTranspo system, so revenue projections are seriously off, and it's not clear when ridership will again rise to pre-pandemic projection levels. 

Non-mask wearing, non-social-distanced station stop at end of inaugural LRT ride.

As a streetcar aficionado, and with the LRT's Alstom Citadis Spirit being essentially a new streetcar repurposed for LRT use, this has been an eye-opener, and a disappointment. Of course, nowhere near the same level of 'disappointment' experienced by the rider who has to rely on the system to get around the city. I was told there's a study out there somewhere that showed how a bus transitway that used all electric buses was far less economical than an electric LRT. I'll bet that study assumed both systems actually functioned as they should, which is not the case here. The double-whammy of a pandemic and a litany of technical failures have likely wiped out any economic benefits the LRT has over other means of transit for many years to come. Still, I hope the LRT's issues are merely teething pains - albeit ones that might last well into its adolescence :-) - but right now I'm not seeing signs that they are. We'll see what the fall has in store as the schools reopen.

Endless problems with the Confederation Line

Left, John Manconi, head of OCTranspo; right, Jim Watson, Ottawa's Mayor

I haven't written about Ottawa's new light rail system in quite a long time. Not that there hasn't been anything to write about; on the contrary, there's been an unending flow of incidents with day-to-day operations that likely make the Confederation Line one of the worst LRT systems currently in operation. The local news outlets have been doing a good job of reporting on all the problems, so I didn't have anything to add other than sympathy for all the riders who are bearing the brunt of this bad system, and the citizens who've paid for it. If you're interested, here's a summary of some of the problems posted today at the CBC: Notes from the underground: lessons from Ottawa's LRT flop. Taken as a whole, the system seems like one where cheapness and expediency ruled, and properly satisfying requirements and testing took a backseat. I hope things can be righted, but I'm not confident.

Cleaning 101

Above the OTrain LRTs at Tunney's Pasture prior to the inaugural ride

On New Year's eve 2 OTrains lost electrical power and stopped dead. Subsequent investigation found the problem was due to a build up of dirt on the pantograph - which the CBC report refers to as the accordion-like apparatus - that makes contact with the overhead wire. Clearly, there seems to be a lack of model railroaders on staff at the city because they'd be well aware that dirt is the bane of all electrically powered rail vehicles no matter how big or small :-)

Roof top view of a TTC Flexity Outlook streetcar - I was surprised by how much equipment is exposed

Roof woes at Tremblay station?

Even though the Confederation Line is having its problems with reliability, I continue to ride. A couple days ago we headed downtown from the Tremblay station. I hadn't been to Tremblay since September, which was only two months ago, but it seems like ages now that the snow and cold have returned. Looking around the station, I saw on its massive, sloping glass roof that many panels have had ice and snow flow stoppers applied. They're those spiky, round sticker-like things you can see in the above photo. They're meant to slow and breakup the flow of ice and snow as it slides down the roof

That photo on the left was shot back in September, and I don't see those snow and ice stoppers.

Maybe the temperature difference between the upper and lower sides of the glass panels allows the snow and ice to melt faster than it normally would, thereby causing little avalanches at the lower end of the roof? Those spiky things would help alleviate that behaviour.

Also, while we were waiting for our train, a workman was up on the roof doing some repairs. It looked like he was caulking some roof panel joints, but your guess is as good as mine.

Winter's a tough season, and it'll be interesting to see how the stations respond.

Messaging the Confederation Line work-arounds

Yesterday the OTrain's boss appeared on CBC Ottawa news to ostensibly explain what's going on to restore normalcy to the Confederation Line's commuter service. Any questions delving into how we got into this mess, or wanting to know root-cause of current problems, were pooh-poohed in a rather condescending and dismissive manner. His tv appearance seemed one of message control, with that message being: we're putting bus work-arounds in place, and let's not discuss how we got into this mess.

What work-arounds have been put in place to fix on-time service performance? Basically, since startup of the Confederation Line 40 old buses have been returned to service, and, beginning in December, 20 new ones will be kept on permanent standby to be called into emergency service whenever LRT problems occur. You can read all the details here.

My contention is that although I agree that getting work-arounds in place to patch-up on-time service performance is top priority, knowing the root-causes of all the problems, as well as what's being done to fix them, and when, is crucial to understanding how long these work-arounds will be needed, whether more work-arounds will be needed, how much the work-arounds will ultimately cost, and whether the maintenance contractor is fulfilling its responsibilities. As well, knowing how these problems arose in the system is not an exercise in blame seeking, but crucial to understanding what and what not to do in the next phases of construction, and in targeting maintenance and proactive problem-seeking in the current system. It appears from the interview that these questions have been deemed out-of-bounds to citizens.

Brother, can you spare a bus?

I've been away for awhile, but I've been trying to keep up-to-date on the Confederation Line's continuing drama. 

And that drama seems to be best summarized by this CBC news item: All options are on the table to fix the LRT mess. 

It looks like to deal with the immediate problem of unreliable service from the LRT the city is bringing back a number of bus routes - and buses - to run parallel to the LRT over a number of routes. It's not completely clear where the buses will come from, or what all the routes are that will be reinstated. Hopefully this won't take too long to resolve as maybe this is a harbinger of things to come: some hardy commuters are simply giving up on public transit and the LRT in particular, Done with LRT, these commuters have found their own ways forward.

It's important to try to restore some sort of transit normalcy for commuters even if takes buses to do it, but things seem strangely quiet on what the Rideau Transit Group is doing to fix all the problems with the systems that are causing these delays. Does the city have any levers to pull on RTG other than withholding monthly payments? Is there a master list of problems that includes problem descriptions, when they'll be fixed, who's responsible for fixing them, and what work-arounds should be applied until things are fixed? Is the city micro-managing it? Is the list being worked on all-hands-on-deck style? Who knows? Now, I don't have any information to corroborate this assertion with, but it looks like there seems to be a lack of engineering rigour being applied to resolving all these problems. I hope I'm wrong. Without any information on what's being done to fix these problems, who knows how long the bus work-around will be required, and how much all this will ultimately cost.

Speaking of buses, I had a small revelation when I rode that Cobus 3000 at Toronto's Pearson airport from one gate to another. It's extra wide, has curb-level low-step-up access, and plenty of space inside for riders. It's likely not street-legal, but could it be used on a bus transitway? As a dyed-in-the-wool streetcar and rail-transit guy it pains me to say this, but maybe instead of an LRT we should have simply had a new bus transitway that used these sorts of buses. Ah, 20/20 hindsight is wonderful :-)

What's the LRT's problem?

At today's meeting of the Ottawa Transit Commission the OTrain's bosses spilled the beans on what's ailing the Confederation Line, or at least tried to. I didn't attend the meeting, but did listen in via live-streaming. I was especially interested in what the bosses had to say about what was causing all the problems on the Confederation Line.

Look, software is at the core of the light rail system as it is in just about every other system in our world. After listening to the technical briefing on what the problems are with the Confederation Line it sounded like the common factor is software systems, and the interactions of those software systems with other systems in the Confederation Line. Also, it sounded like the current problems only surfaced once the parallel bus lines were closed down and the Confederation Line went to full-scale operations. Maybe classic scaling problems were kicking in?

The technical problems were isolated to 4 areas: the Train Control Monitoring System (TCMS), the Vehicle On Board Controller (VOBC), the doors, and the switches. It sounds like the city has demanded an all-hands-on-deck approach from the Rideau Transit Group (RTG), who maintains the system, to fix those systems. Some problems have been lessened, but the overall system is far from being all fixed up, and the OCTranspo bosses were hard-over on socializing to all present that things aren't at normal, and it could be a long while before they are.

For TCMS, root causes have not yet been found, and various operational work-arounds are being put in place.

For VOBC, there are 2 of these controllers on a train, if both have issues, the train is taken out of service. No details were given on what's wrong with this system.

For doors, problems were identified as riders 'interacting' with the doors (aka, holding them open I guess), and in the door safety features. The doors have obstruction processing software, and it sounded like there were 9 issues with it. Some improvements have been made, but they're not completely fixed. The bosses emphasized that door problems are common on LRT systems around the world. I guess they meant this as some indication of normalcy, but I interpret it as a systemic issue with modern LRTs, which is not good.

For switches, one of the problems was with covers that were installed for winter operation, and they had to be removed - I'm not sure what they're going to do when winter actually arrives, which weather predictions say may happen tomorrow with the first snowfall. One work-around is rather old fashioned, and will be familiar to model railroaders: have a technician - basically what we'd call a switchman - stationed at each cross-over, where the switches are located, during rush hours to be on top of problems when they occur.

The bosses took great pains to tell the audience that the actual uptime and operational performance of the Confederation Line is quite good in comparison to other systems around the world. The audience was also told that problems are normal during system startup. Interesting, but cold comfort to riders who actually bear the consequences of these malfunctioning systems.

In a system like this you've got sub-systems everywhere, on the trains, signalling, monitoring, train control, people, and so on, and these systems are interacting with each other. These aren't old school LRTs and streetcars that rely on people and protocols that people use to interact with each other in order to make the system work. For example, with the Confederation Line, every station was designed to not need any staff. So, one of the work-arounds, to at least improve customer relations during times of delays, is to hire staff to man the stations.

The upshot seems to be lots of work-arounds are being put in place to minimize rider impacts as delays continue to occur on the Confederation Line as RTG and OCTranspo work to fix the technical problems.

There was lots of other discussion and presentation on operational improvements and work-arounds. But, overall, it's one of those situations where only time will tell how all this pans out. I hope these are just the teething pains of a new system and not indicative of deeper systemic problems.

The Kitbashed X: Separated at Birth?

Above: A monorail suspiciously similar to the Alstom Citadis Spirit cruises the mean pylons of Radiant City in Mister X: Eviction

The Confederation line woes continue, and it looks like some city officials are getting even more desperate: Transit chair chides commissioners for speaking out about LRT chaos. It isn't the city councillors and transit commissioners looking for answers that're the problem, it's the LRT itself. It gives me no pleasure to say that because I'm a supporter of LRT, and railed urban transit in general, but what we're seeing, and riders are experiencing, is far from good and needs to be fixed. I have a feeling testing may have been skimped on, but on 6 November, the LRT head is supposed to report on what is causing all these problems, and what's being done to fix them. Stay tuned.

5 Days of LRT Delays

CBC television here in Ottawa is reporting that there has been a delay in the LRT system everyday this week. They seem to be happening far more frequently now that full operation has been underway for a few weeks. 

Whenever I hear about more system delays my thoughts go back to this video from September when the system was still more-or-less brand new, but even then was having issues. Mr. Manconi's tone, he's the top guy responsible for the LRT, explaining how he and his team will dismiss out-of-hand reported problems, is somewhat condescending, and seems to foreshadow where the system is today. "Let the system relax": it does seem a little too relaxed, and commuters are paying for it. LRT is getting a bad rep and, so far, deservedly so.

Jammed doors halt the Confederation Line for two days in a row

The Alstom Citadis Spirit trains running on the Confederation line are having serious door issues. During yesterday morning's rush hour a door jammed at a station stop at around 8:05am causing the entire LRT service to stop until around 9:00 am (City apologizes for chaotic commute caused by jammed LRT door), and this morning, also at around 8 am, another jammed door stopped LRT operations until around 9:15 am when full service was resumed ("It's a disaster": Jammed door holds up LRT for 2nd straight morning). This is looking like a systemic issue in the door system. Hardware? Software? Operations? There are no reports in the media regarding root cause, although the initiating event appears to be riders that prevent doors from closing. I suspect all the system details aren't known just yet, and the city might not be too forthcoming when they do know. We'll see what happens.

From Pimisi to the IPMS show at the Canadian War Museum

Pimisi Station as seen from the roof of the Canadian War Museum

I think one of the measures of success for a light rail system is whether it can change people's behaviours about how they choose to get around in a city. Commuters are usually the main target, and maybe the easiest, as they often don't have a choice. Discretionary travel is another story. Several friends have told me they won't ever use the OTrain to get downtown, or anywhere else. They'll use their car no matter what. I think I'm in some sort of middle ground. I don't like navigating snarled-up city traffic, or looking for a parking spot. If I can take the train somewhere, I will, but if there's something unusual about the trip, like I have a lot of stuff to schlep, or people to transport, I'd use my car. If it's just me going somewhere, I'll take the train if it's going my way. I think part of it is nostalgia, not to mention laziness about not dealing with the hassle of a car just to move me around. The nostalgia bit is from all those years I lived in Toronto. The TTC was how I got around, especially on the subway. So, maybe early exposure as a boy, along with good memories of freedom, have predisposed me to using the train.  

Half of Pimisi station

I found out the local IPMS chapter was holding their 2019 contest and show, CapCon 2019, at the Canadian War Museum, and with the Pimisi station on the Confederation Line just a 5 or 6 minute walk away, I decided to take the train to see the show, museum and station. I hadn't been to one of these shows in well over ten years, so I was curious to see what, if anything, was new.

From the other posts in this series you may think Ottawa is perpetually sunny; let me disabuse you of that perception :-) It was mild this morning, but there was a steady rain, so these pictures are going to look a little wet and grey. 

Ignoring the bike lane

If you read yesterday's post about bicycle access to the stations, you may be interested to learn there is a dedicated bike lane at Pimisi too. But, unfortunately, if you look closely at the photo, that bicyclist has decided not to use it and take his chances in traffic. 

Setting up the model show

The Canadian War Museum is a difficult building to photograph, but it's a fascinating structure, and no doubt there are great photos to be found online that will give you a general sense of the place. Scale models are also difficult to photograph - well, difficult for me - so I'm not posting any. The show was set up, surrounded by the museum's tank collection, on standard issue conference tables draped with white sheets. I understand why such tables are used, but I don't think they show the models, and all the skillful work that has gone into them, to best advantage. 

The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917 by Richard Jack

The corridor leading to the show has a sobering display of several large war paintings. They alone were worth the price of admission.

M3A1 Stuart Tank

I had a look at the tanks before leaving the show. I know nothing about tanks, although I did recognize the little Stuart tank from DC's Haunted Tank series. I was surprised at how small it is.

Peace Tower from the roof of the Canadian War Museum

I was surprised to learn the war museum has a partial grass roof. The building incorporates a ramp up to the roof, and you're free to go up and have a look at the views. Unlike yesterday where I had to thrash my way through tall wild plants, here was a pleasant stroll to a grassy overlook. The dead centre gothic spire with the flag on top is the Peace Tower at the Parliament buildings.

Ok, just to wrap up I'll contradict myself - it won't be the first time :-) - and end with a partial photo of the museum. No doubt I'll make another trip out there to view the museum's displays in more detail.

By bicycle to Hurdman, Tremblay, and Lees stations

Ottawa has an extensive network of bike paths. I had read somewhere that a number of the paths - maybe all of them - connect up with OTrain stations. Seeing how it was a beautiful day in the neighbourhood today I decided to get out my bike and ride over to a few stations via the bike path.

Today was one of those rare September days: temperatures in the high teens, sunny, very little wind. A great day for riding.

On my way to Hurdman I left the bike path and bushwhacked to some higher ground so I could get this overall view of the station. Ground level is where the buses converge. 

Up in the wild grass there were lots of Monarch butterflies. I'm hearing they're getting ready for their annual migration back to Mexico for the winter.

This is Hurdman station as seen from just off the bike path. 

One unusual feature of this station is that angle structure - it looks like an upside-down L - over on the far right end.

That upside-down L is an open air cover for the staircase that goes from the bus level to the train platform. I wonder how much protection that is going to provide in the winter. 

I did a little more bushwhacking to get this photo of a train on its way from Hurdman to Tremblay.

A little more waiting in the tall grass and I snapped this train coming into Hurdman from Tremblay. Apparently I'm a train-spotter now :-)

From Hurdman I continued along the bike path to Tremblay station. That's the back end of the station, and that train is on its way to Hurdman.

Next station: Lees. As you can see, the bike path is very close to the tracks as you cross the bridge over the Rideau river to Lees station.

And there it is: Lees station, just across the road from the end of the bike path.

So, ok, bicycling to three of the stations is possible, easy, and can be quite pleasant on a beautiful day. You can park your bike at a station, or take it on the train with you. I'll have to try taking it with me to get to some more distant section of the bike path.

Pleasant Park to Hurdman to Parliament

I'm running up the stairs at Hurdman to catch the train

Ottawa has had an extensive bus transitway for many years. Basically, it's a roadway network dedicated to OCTranspo buses. We started our trip downtown today from the Pleasant Park transitway station with the plan to take the bus over to the Hurdman station on the Confederation Line, and then catch the train downtown to the Parliament station.

The trip was fine, although I sustained a little ego bruising at the start. While entering the bus the driver kindly mentioned to me that I need not have swiped my Presto card to get on because seniors ride free on Wednesdays. Senior? Moi? I'm well below their minimum qualification age of 65, but I do have a full head of grey hair. So, I guess the equation is: lots of grey hair = senior. Or maybe I just look crotchety :-) Or maybe I need a dye-job. Or maybe I should buy some cool clothes. Or maybe I should just see how many free rides I can finagle with my senior locks :-)

The train at Parliament station

While engrossed in my hair issues I totally ignored the pleasant and quiet ride downtown.

Parliament is another of those underground downtown stations. Very utilitarian and efficient. Although at the mezzanine level there were some interesting coloured ceiling panels installed that gave the station some needed visual relief. But the staircases and passageways were all panelled in a uniformly bleak, flat grey tile.

I recall reading somewhere that OCTranspo expects the Parliament station to be the busiest as it services both government offices and many businesses at this stop.

As you might expect, when you pop out of Parliament station you're more or less right at Parliament Hill. That's the Confederation Building, which is just west of the Parliament Buildings. That triangle structure, sticking up in the middle ground, is the entrance to the Bank of Canada Museum.

Each train on the Confederation Line was named via a contest. The train we took back to the Hurdman station was called the Eh-Train. Ok, well, yes it is Canada and all that, so on that note I think I should bring this to a close with the Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington classic.

Comments, Outtakes & Feedback on Opening Day

It's been a little over a week since the opening of the Confederation Line. As I've chatted with people about the kick-off and the inaugural ride I've gotten a few comments. Here're are few.

Why did the tv crews use such large, shoulder held video cameras in this day-and-age when there are much smaller ones of likely comparable video quality out there? Surprisingly, this question was raised by a few people. I have no idea why those big things are still in use.

Was the train noisy? On the inaugural ride I couldn't say because there were so many people packed in my section. Last week when I took it out to Rideau, and there were far fewer passengers, I'd say it was no better or worse than a TTC subway train.

OCTranspo doesn't seem to care about providing enough parking for people who want to drive their car to a station and then take the train into the city. The GO and TTC seem to do this, but not OCTranspo. I'd say the commenters are correct, but I can't say why OCTranspo has taken the approach they have. Maybe they don't have enough cash to buy the needed land ? Maybe they want to eliminate auto usage instead of reduce it ? Maybe they haven't thought about station location in terms of parking possibilities? I don't know their rationale, but I agree this reduces potential ridership, and a few have told me this is a show-stopper for them. I need to look into if they're doing anything on this issue in the next phase.

It's too bad that there aren't any kiosks or small shops in the stations.True, from the stations I've seen so far they're aren't any. They're utilitarian to the max, and provide no amenities other than some rudimentary shelter from the weather. Or maybe it's the times we live in. Newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, candy, gum, and other such small items travellers might want aren't so much a part of life as they were in earlier eras of station building.

Why wasn't the first day, or first week, of operation free to all riders? Again, I have no idea why this common practice wasn't implemented to entice riders and act as a goodwill gesture to commuters who have endured a lot of inconveniences during construction. When we emailed a city rep to ask about this I got a rather bureaucratic answer, but all it did was remind me that although Ottawa is a world capital, it's still driven by a lot of small mindedness. I've heard on the news that the city is considering a free day maybe in the fall. We'll see what happens.

The big, red O's that are used to mark OTrain stations are quite effective even though they remind me of a giant cherry Life Saver on a stick :-) The one over there marks the location of the Rideau station. That's the Chateau Laurier in the background. I snapped this while chowing down on a burrito before heading back home - railway evaluation is hungry work :-)

Tremblay to Rideau along the Confederation Line

Today we took the OTrain from Tremblay station downtown to Rideau.

Tremblay, shown over on the left, is located on the grounds of Ottawa's VIA Rail station, so it's easy to take the train from say Montreal or Toronto to Ottawa, and then walk over to the OTrain station and get downtown in maybe 10 minutes or so. The station's layout is quite functional and utilitarian. Style-wise, it's dramatic, but also very similar to other pieces of public architecture we've seen over the last few years. You may recall in the McGregor Park Library post I noted that the new McGregor Park Library has that same upthrusting roof design, as do the onroute rest stops along the 401. Now, the OCTranspo's Tremblay station can be added to that club.

This view is from the Tremblay station's entrance looking back to the VIA station - it's that horizontal, black truss roof thing on the horizon. 

Ottawa is a serious winter city. Last winter hung around for 6 months and we had a total of around 3m of snow. Note that there is no protected walkway from the VIA station to the OTrain station. You've got to schlep you and your bags outside to get from one station to the other. Some sort of above or below ground covered walkway would have been better, but I can only imagine the added cost, and there would have had to have been cooperation between all the organizations associated with VIA and OCTranspo. 

Rideau station is underground, and there isn't much to see outside as the station entrance is just a facade with some doors up at street level. It's clearly marked, so you can't miss it. 

Rideau station connects directly with the Rideau Centre shopping mall. No need to go outside to brave the elements to do some shopping - definitely a benefit in the winter months.

Monday was the first day of revenue service on the Confederation Line. There was an 8 minute delay that day, and on Tuesday the St Laurent, Cyrville, and Blair stations were closed for about an hour in the afternoon. So, there have been some teething pains, but our trip this morning was flawless. We were travelling after the morning rush, so not a lot of riders, but I'd say the seats were close to 1/3 full. 

My verdict for this trip is that I won't be driving downtown again if I need to go to the market, Rideau Centre, or there abouts.