Quote:
Originally Posted by 1overcosc
It will be quite something in 8 years to see the contrast between Ottawa's two rail routes. On the one hand you'll have high-end Confederation Line with its very high frequencies, fast speeds, and huge trains, and then the patchwork Trillium Line on the other end.
I really don't think the airport spur is going to happen as there's no money for it in the budget unless the Airport Authority coughs up the entire amount (which is unlikely).
As for bridges, there's about a dozen of them, as well as the bedrock section. The 417 bridge is being replaced in 2017 by the MTO, and it will protect for a double track line beneath it. Over time, as more of these bridges have to be replaced anyway due to reaching end-of-life, the cost of double tracking will go down.
Predicting the future is obviously difficult but I think what we'll see is:
1) After Phase 2 is finished, the inadequacy and relative shittiness of the Trillium Line will become apparent to everyone.
2) The city will respond by reducing the Trillium Line to nothing more than a local route for the places immediately adjacent (ie. walking distance) to its stations. Buses will be routed to the Confederation Line instead using the SE Transitway and other routes.
3) Public demands for improvement and double tracking and electrification will mount as those living in the south end feel shortchanged by their shitty line relative to the high quality of Confederation.
4) After the city finally has money for more stuff after spending most of its transit money on the Confederation Line, around 2030 or so, double tracking Trillium will be at the top of the list due to these public demands.
5) And voila---we have a Trillium Line upgraded to the Confederation Line's standards, in like 2040 or something.
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Well, isn't that an optimistic scenario? 2040?
But really, Confederation Line Phase 2 is not the end of the line for the Confederation Line. We will be talking about Phase 3 as well and the pressure will be on to extend it beyond Place d'Orleans, Baseline and Bayshore. The pressure will really come from Kanata to be as well served as Orleans and they will win.
The crap line southward will remain mostly used by Carleton students and that is good enough for them, with regular summer closures to address the latest deficiency.
We will welcome the MTO replacement of the Queensway bridge but that won't allow the construction of any further double tracking as the Gladstone Avenue bridge also needs to be replaced.
My trip to central Europe was a real eye opener. A city such as Wroclaw, Poland is smaller than Ottawa has many tram lines, mostly in exclusive right of ways although not grade separated. This city is truly a place you can live without a car as the tram lines extend to near the edge of the city and is supplemented by an excellent bus network. The tramways are also interlined (often 5 different routes together) reducing the number of transfers required. Prague is somewhat bigger than Ottawa has 3 subways, all travelling through the central part of the city and also many tramways. The electronic signs were also impressive giving you wait times for each tram route. Although Canadian cities are making better progress than their American counterparts, our transit efforts pale compare to Europe. But of course, we have to walk before we run. We have really allowed ourselves to fall well behind in transportation infrastructure based on the false assumption that the automobile was going to be the solution indefinitely. The great fear is that we will only address key corridors not addressing the needs of the masses on that last mile or so to your destination. This will always limit the success of any plans and is a common problem with American rail plans that often fail to provide decent transit connections from the rail stations.