Ottawa is my hometown and my longtime former city of residence.
Ok, it appears clearly commuter-optimized.
This is the proposed MOOSE commuter rail network for Ottawa, at
www.letsgomoose.ca
View attachment 80338
Basically, Ottawa's equivalent of the existing Toronto GO train system.
(And apparently, they do already have a spiffy logo.)
In the past, this would be dismissed and laughed at. But with the large number of rail initiatives going on...
I noticed Wakefield is on the map. There used to be a tourist train running this route until a few years ago. Even resurrecting any now-discontinued Wakefield steam train (which stopped running just a few years ago) as a hybrid commuter & excision line -- would have hugely popular support by residents there. They would probably be quick to rally for concessions from multiple levels of government to help it indirectly off the ground (e.g. $5M corridor repair before trains are able to run again).
And, it does appear they want to add cycle paths and pedestrian paths to the
Ottawa-Gatineau rail bridge renovation. This would probably have popular support by Ottawa residents, by taxpayers, and even by the NCC (a crown corporation that administers green space). MOOSE or otherwise, many would be happy to see any level of government fix up this currently-disused rail bridge and put it into useful infrastructure service (trains, pedestrians, cyclists).
Apparently, October 2015, the
MOOSE consortium officially launched, and becoming the first rail company (not already operating) in Canada in 125 years to apply for a "certificate of fitness".
Some technical issues. It looks like the MOOSE commuter train wants to share track (or corridor) with the north-south Ottawa LRT, and make commuter-train stops at Bayview, Carleton, and Greensboro. Transport Canada may have something to say about this for now.... but a Bayview-to-Wakefield starter train could easily start up (after track/bridge fixes), to begin with, with no/little interference from freight, and possibly be economically viable.
There were lots of talk about this, even as early as 2012, but it appears they have gone quite a bit further along and momentum is picking up beginning late 2015.