VIA Rail and the O-Train

‘Tremblay’ along Ottawa’s new ‘O-Train’ Confederation Line 1 provides easy connections to the adjacent VIA Rail Station.

https://www.octranspo.com/images/files/ ... id-map.pdf












The right-of-way for the original ‘Transitway’ (a bus only road network) passing in front of the VIA Station and has been converted over for the new electric Confederation Line Light Rail system

Bayview Station is two-levels where you connect between Confederation Line 1 and Trillium Line 2…….






Ottawa’s other O-Train…..the Trillium Line has been in service since 2001 but unlike the new Electric Confederation line…..it’s Diesel powered Light Rail and runs on track that once had CPR passenger trains to Toronto. A major expansion south from Greenboro Station to the Airport and Riverside is underway.

https://www.stage2lrt.ca/where/south/

Now onto Greenboro on a diesel-powered Alstom Coradia train.

I've always found the former Bus Transitway passing in front of the VIA Station...now the Confederation Line Light-Rail to be well used by passengers to and from VIA providing easy connections throughout the city. Not everyone is going downtown. And that is the nice thing about the location of VIA’s Ottawa Station.....it also has an interchange on the Queensway Freeway with lots of parking. Try finding that downtown at the old Union Station site. It might have been out in the boonies when first opened in '66.....but not anymore!

Very interesting photos and info NS, thank you for sharing. The Tremblay/Ottawa station looks really nice and has an interesting modern aesthetic to it. Are most larger VIA stations styled that way?

NaugyRR wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:15 am Are most larger VIA stations styled that way?

Lol, no. Practically every VIA station is dramatically different.

NaugyRR wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:15 am The Tremblay/Ottawa station looks really nice and has an interesting modern aesthetic to it......

IMHO Ottawa Station is one of VIA’s finest and has some interesting architectural features like that circular ramp (photo above)…..up from the lower level tunnel under the tracks.

The station is undergoing major renovations including the addition of high-level platforms and will be only the third station in Canada with these. Montreal and Quebec City are the others.

Hard to believe this very modern looking station is 55 years old (opened in June 1966). Back then it had 3 Transcontinental Trains a day each way to and from Vancouver (CN’s Super Continental & Panorama and CP’s Canadian) Now it’s not even possible to run west to Capreol/Sudbury from Ottawa as both railways have abandoned their routes through the Ottawa Valley. Today…..VIA’s Corridor Routes offer very good service to Montreal (with some trains continuing to Quebec City)…..and Toronto with 10 trains a day each way (up from 3 back in ’66)

Here’s The Canadian at Ottawa in Oct. 1977.

The diesel O-Train and the VIA (Smiths Falls subdivision?) cross at Ellwood Diamond but there is a project in planning to separate them. Hopefully that might mean some double tracking and speed-up between VIA Ottawa and VIA Fallowfield.