Light Rail Pilot Project on Track for Summer 2001

   Regional Council has given the green light to a Light Rail
pilot project that will be a fully integrated extension of
Ottawa-Carleton's rapid transit network. Managed and
operated by OC Transpo, the 8-km line will operate on
existing Canadian Pacific (CP) freight tracks between
Greenboro in South Keys and Bayview on Lebreton Flats.
This new service is scheduled to pull out of the station in
the summer of 2001.
   The line will serve five stations: Greenboro, Confederation
(Heron Road), Carleton (University), Carling and Bayview.
A new station to be built on the Transitway at Bayview and
a fully integrated Transitway-rail station at Greenboro will
allow easy transfers between bus and rail services.
   Three Bombardier "Talent" series three-car trains will be
purchased with a buy-back option at the end of the pilot
project. These trains, developed in Europe, are fully
accessible. Each train seats 135 passengers, with room for
up to 150 more passengers to stand.
   During the two-year  pilot project, the rail service is
expected to attract new riders who will bring us closer to
the goals set out in the region's Transportation Master
Plan and ease traffic on the congested Bronson-Airport
Parkway corridor. The rail line will also improve access to
colleges, universities and business parks and provide a new
cross-town transit link that avoids downtown traffic.
   Expected capital costs for the pilot project: $16 million.
Annual operating costs are estimated at $3.9 million.
Extensive public consultation has already taken place over
the last 18 months and will continue through regular
meetings with the Regional Transit Advisory Committee,
Accessible Transit Advisory Committee, Regional Cycling
Advisory Group and all the other public meetings normally
undertaken for any transit service issue or project. Watch
for ads in newspapers in the new year that will announce an
open house to solicit public opinion on detailed station
designs.
   As we prepare to launch the service in the summer of 2001,
out first step is to become a rail operating company in
addition to a transit bus operating authority.
   Ahead of us in the next twenty months: detailed project
planning; design of train control systems and the operating
plan, then obtaining Transport Canada approval for them;
selection and training of train operators and other staff;
and detailed station design and station construction. We're
awaiting approval of the environmental assessment, which
is expected by April 30, 2000. Only then can we break
ground to build the stations.
   We'll keep you up to speed in future editions of Circuits
as we continue on track towards a new type of transit
service in Ottawa-Carleton.