Ottawa Transit Developments

[Kyle Campbell]

Not only are the REM trains not a brand new design like Ottawas were, but they are specifically using technology for cold weather climates in mind

REM trains will withstand Montreal winters, planners promise

Doubts have been raised following problems during tests of Alstom-manufactured trains in Ottawa.

montrealgazette.com

They babbled about how the Spirit was specifically designed for cold weather too, yet here we are. We should hope REM does better especially because Alstom can apply learnings from Ottawa but we'll see soon enough.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From Ottawa Citizen:

Inside the slow-rolling disaster of Ottawa's $9-billion LRT project

This is the story of how myriad parts of the project failed to come together as promised.

ottawacitizen.com

AoD

 

[Kyle Campbell]

The part that might be relevant to REM is this one that @Allandale25 highlighted about winter modifications on the Citadis/Flexity thread

"

The Citadis platform is indeed very reliable. But the Spirit variant had been tweaked to accommodate deep winter, among other things. The risk associated with the redesign was scarcely acknowledged by city staff. It was also downplayed by Alstom."

 

[p_xavier]

The part that might be relevant to REM is this one that @Allandale25 highlighted about winter modifications on the Citadis/Flexity thread

"

The CDPQ will be the biggest shareholder of Alstom, I guess that makes it in a better position...

 

[tayser]

From Ottawa Citizen:

Inside the slow-rolling disaster of Ottawa's $9-billion LRT project

This is the story of how myriad parts of the project failed to come together as promised.

ottawacitizen.com

AoD

got halfway through that article and saw:

"They capped the length of station platforms at 150 metres rather than 180 metres. "

I almost choked. 150 metre platforms for a tram system!?!? say what?

 

[p_xavier]

got halfway through that article and saw:

"They capped the length of station platforms at 150 metres rather than 180 metres. "

I almost choked. 150 metre platforms for a tram system!?!? say what?

Streetcars vehicles were seen as the future back then. Metros were looked as those archaic things. That's how ten years feel in transit studies.

 

[W. K. Lis]

150m is about the same length as a TTC subway platform. Even the Sheppard Line 4 is 150m, except that they shortened it by blocking parts of it off to the public.

 

[smallspy]

Streetcars vehicles were seen as the future back then. Metros were looked as those archaic things. That's how ten years feel in transit studies.

That's not even close to why they did that.

The original plan was for the further-flung extensions to be built at grade, and potentially in the middle of the streets. There was even some hope that they were going to use the same vehicles on an LRT line along Carling.

At some point about 5 years ago, they decided against all of that. The extensions were going to be built to the same standards as the original portion, and now they're talking about a couple of queue-jump lanes along Carling.

Dan

 

[OCCheetos]

and now they're talking about a couple of queue-jump lanes along Carling.

A Carling LRT is still in the long term plans, but the city is out of money for at least the next ~20 years hence the bus lanes/queue jumps in the interim..

 

[gweed123]

A Carling LRT is still in the long term plans, but the city is out of money for at least the next ~20 years hence the bus lanes/queue jumps in the interim..

Speaking of that, I haven't heard anything about the Baseline BRT in a while. It was included in some of the early Phase 2 documentation, but then mysteriously disappeared. Anyone know what happened?

 

[p_xavier]

That's not even close to why they did that.

The original plan was for the further-flung extensions to be built at grade, and potentially in the middle of the streets. There was even some hope that they were going to use the same vehicles on an LRT line along Carling.

At some point about 5 years ago, they decided against all of that. The extensions were going to be built to the same standards as the original portion, and now they're talking about a couple of queue-jump lanes along Carling.

Dan

I was actually a consultant on the whole damn vehicle choosing initiative...

 

[OCCheetos]

Speaking of that, I haven't heard anything about the Baseline BRT in a while. It was included in some of the early Phase 2 documentation, but then mysteriously disappeared. Anyone know what happened?

It's in future budgets, but keeps being pushed back. Awaiting funding.

 

[CapitalSeven]

A Carling LRT really makes no sense unless it can go right into the downtown area, or at least connect with the Confederation line. An LRT that starts at Carling station requiring two transfers to get into the core is going to provide worse service than what it replaces. Like the airport extension

 

[drum118]

This could be bad news for the Finch and Hurontario line

What if Ottawa's light-rail trains are actually unfixable?

 

[Kyle Campbell]

got halfway through that article and saw:

"They capped the length of station platforms at 150 metres rather than 180 metres. "

I almost choked. 150 metre platforms for a tram system!?!? say what?

In an original version of the plan, the idea was to allow the.trains to run in triples when ridership demanded it. Now the plan is to stick an additional module in each train. But other systems also run long trains like Seattle.