1. Service

2. History
    Pilot project  Original service  Awards  Criticism of pilot project  Early extension plans  Service improvements  Stage 2 expansion   Derailment  

3. Stations
    Future stations 

4. Fleet
     Future fleet  

5. Facilities
     Stage 2 replacement  

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

The Trillium Line ({{lang-fr|Ligne Trillium}}) is a diesel light rail transit (DLRT) service in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada operated by OC Transpo. The line is part of the O-Train light rail system.

The present line runs north–south on a railway line, from Bayview to Greenboro, a distance of approximately {{convert|8|km|mi|0}}. It is isolated from road traffic, but shared with other trains; after operating hours, the track has been infrequently used by Ottawa Central for freight service to the National Research Council.

Between 2013 and 2015, there was an upgrade of the line, including the complete replacement of the train fleet, in order to cut wait times during peak periods from 15 minutes to 12 minutes and eventually to 8–10 minutes. The upgrade was also a precursor to extending the line southwards by four stations.^[3]

Service

The Trillium Line operates on a single-track rail line with five stations and three passing loops. With the exception of {{stn|Carleton}}, all stations have only a single platform.

It is legally considered a federally-regulated mainline railway despite being used for local public transport purposes, and the service it provides is, in terms of its route and service frequency, more like that of an urban railway than a metro or tramway. The line is operated by the City of Ottawa under the official name "Capital Railway", which appears on the trains along with their regular logo.^[2]

History

Pilot project

The Trillium Line was introduced on October 15, 2001, as a pilot project to provide an alternative to the Transitway bus rapid transit on which Ottawa had long depended exclusively for its high-grade transit service. The single-track line operated with five stations and a single passing loop at Carleton station.

As a pilot project, the Trillium Line system was built at the cost of C$21 million, relatively little compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars usually required to build a new transit line. It runs on an existing Canadian Pacific Railway track (Ellwood and Prescott subdivisions^[3]), so the only construction work necessary was to build the stations themselves and the passing tracks necessary to allow trains to operate in both directions. The downside to this, however, was that much ground pollution remains from the track’s previous use. This will become a liability in the future day when the city has to pay for remediation; to avoid this expense, the city has not dug into the ground under the tracks.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

From 2001 until 2015,^[6] the system used three diesel-powered Bombardier Talent BR643 low-floor diesel multiple unit trains. It was, however, described as "light rail", partly because plans called for it to be extended into Ottawa’s downtown as a tramway-like service, and partly because the Talent vehicles, though designed for mainline railways in Europe, are much smaller and lighter than most mainline trains in North America, and do not meet the Association of American Railroads' standards for crash strength. Ottawa is also authorized to run trains with only a single operator and no other crew, something rare on mainline railways in North America.

Until late 2014, the official name of the diesel-powered, north–south line was "O-Train". After construction started on a second, east–west light rail line (the Confederation Line), the O-Train name was applied to the entire system, and the north–south line was renamed the "Trillium Line".^[4]

Original service

Ticketing on the Trillium Line originally worked entirely on a proof-of-payment basis; there were no ticket barriers or turnstiles, and the driver did not check fares. Occasionally, OC Transpo Special Constables or other employees prompted passengers for proof-of-payment. Tickets can be purchased from a vending machine on the platform, and certain bus passes are also valid for the Trillium Line. Trillium Line tickets were exchanged for bus transfers upon boarding a bus. Although bus transfers can be used to board the O-Train, prepaid bus tickets cannot.

The European trains are narrower than the North American standard. In order to enable night-time use of the line by standard-width freight services, retractable platform extenders are mounted at each station (other than Bayview which is constructed on its own private rail spur). Passengers gain access to the Trillium Line on these extenders. If the line is used for freight, the extenders are retracted allowing a wider train to pass through the station. The extender interface with the train has been refined over time, and cyclists and wheelchair users now have no trouble accessing the train.

The service frequency of a train every fifteen minutes made it possible to run the line with a fleet of just three trains (of which only two were in service at any given time) and a single track, apart from passing sidings at Carleton station.

The Trillium Line hit the 1-millionth rider mark on May 29, 2002, the 5-millionth mark on January 21, 2005, and the 10-millionth in late 2010.^[5] In mid-2011, the Trillium Line carried an average of approximately 12,000 riders each day.^[9]

Awards

In June 2002, the O-Train Light Rail Transit project received the Canadian Urban Transit Association’s Corporate Innovation Award.^[6]

On January 16, 2003, the Ontario chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) presented the City of Ottawa, Canadian Pacific Railway and Morrison Hershfield with the APWA Public Works Project of the Year award in the transportation category. This award was established to highlight excellence in the management and administration of public works projects by recognizing the alliance between the managing agency, the consultant and the contractors who, working together, complete public works projects.^[7]

A third award the Trillium Line light rail transit project received was in May 2003, in the sustainable transportation category of the FCM-CH2M Hill Sustainable Community Awards.^[6]

Criticism of pilot project

The main complaints about the Trillium Line pilot have revolved around its placement and ridership levels. The Trillium Line's route was determined by existing railway tracks, rather than the parts of the city that needed public transport, which would have required new tracks to be laid. Carleton University students, however, benefited from the Trillium Line pilot project, as it connected the university to the busy Ottawa Transitway system.

The other criticism is that there is very low ridership of the trains compared to some very crowded bus lines such as the 90–99 series routes. One fully loaded Trillium Line train carries 285 passengers compared to 131 passengers for an articulated bus.^[8] The O-Train schedule is limited by track capacity.

Early extension plans

In July 2006, Ottawa City Council approved a north–south light rail expansion project. The project would have terminated diesel light rail service on the Trillium Line so as to reuse its right-of-way for a double-track, electric light rail line that would have extended west from the University of Ottawa to Bayview then south to Leitrim and then west to Barrhaven. However, in December 2006, Ottawa City Council cancelled this project, thus leaving the diesel-powered Trillium Line unchanged.

Service improvements

On May 18, 2011, OC Transpo approved a $200,000 study to expand the Trillium Line. The $59 {{Nbsp}}million proposal included the purchase of six new trainsets and track improvements that would increase headways to eight minutes from fifteen.^[9] The project would finally cost $60.3 {{Nbsp}}million.^[10]

In mid-2013, service on the Trillium Line was suspended for four months to implement service and track improvements such as new station platforms and two new passing tracks (near Brookfield and Gladstone).^[10][11] Upgrades were also made to the signal system, train controls, stations, tracks and train yard. A new centralized traffic control system was installed to improve safety and efficiency.^[10] Six new Alstom Coradia LINT trainsets (replacing the three older Bombardier Talent units) and the two extra passing loops allowed the number of trains on the line to double to four.

Expanded service began on March 2, 2015, but suffered numerous problems during the first week.^[12] Although the changes were intended to improve frequency to eight minutes, the Trillium Line would ultimately operate at twelve minute frequency.^[13]

Stage 2 expansion

As part of the City's Stage 2 project, the Trillium Line will be extended {{convert|11.4|km|abbr=on|}} southwards with four stations at South Keys, Leitrim, Bowesville and Limebank in Riverside South. A new passing loops would be built as part of the station at South Keys and the extension will be double tracked from Leitrim southwards. The entire extension will be grade-separated. In addition, two more stations will be built along the existing line at Gladstone and Walkley.^[14]

The project also includes a separate {{convert|3|km|abbr=on}} branch line between the Macdonald–Cartier International Airport and South Keys station with an additional station at Uplands Drive next to the EY Centre. The spur will operate as a shuttle between the Airport and South Keys station due to the limited capacity of the tracks north of South Keys meaning that passengers will need to change trains to continue to Bayview station.^[15] South Keys will be built to allow for trains from the Airport spur to be interlined onto the mainline in the future once upgrades are made to the capacity of the tracks.

Preparatory construction began in late February 2019 with the clearing of trees between South Keys and the Airport.

Derailment

On August 11, 2014, train C3 derailed while traveling northbound over the switch just south of Carleton Station.^[16] The cause was determined to be a faulty spring switch that had not closed properly as well as the operator failing to follow regulations and physically inspect the switch after spotting a signal irregularity. No serious injuries occurred as a result of the derailment, however train C3 received damage and was taken out of service. C3 was never repaired and never returned to service^[24] and as a result the line continued to operate with only two operational trains until the following March when the new Alstom LINT trains entered service. In June 2017, the spring switches at Carleton were replaced with powered switches.^[17]

Stations

The Trillium Line stations have sheltered waiting areas for passengers, but at three stations, these are only large bus-style shelters beside the tracks. The exceptions are Carling, where an elevator building is required since the tracks are below street level, and Greenboro, where a covered walkway extends towards the nearby South Keys Shopping Centre. All stations have level boarding platforms to allow for wheelchair access and easier boarding for all passengers.

Future stations

Fleet

The Trillium Line initially used three Bombardier Talent diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains for service. Each train (numbered C1–C3^[20]) consisted of three cars, with the front and rear powered and the centre towed. The trains were originally ordered by Deutsche Bahn and later delivered to OC Transpo. After being retired in 2015, the units were put up for auction multiple times^[21] before eventually being sold for C$25,200 on December 14, 2018.^[20]

In September 2011, Alstom announced that it would deliver six new two-car Coradia LINT train sets in 2013;^[22] the trains were handed over to OC Transpo in June 2013.^[23] These trains were put into service on March 2, 2015, and the Bombardier Talent units were subsequently retired.^[24]

Future fleet

On May 3, 2018, it was announced that the city would be purchasing seven new Stadler FLIRT trains to use on the extended Trillium Line after the completion of Stage 2.^[25]{{Not in citation|date=January 2019}} These trains will be approximately {{convert|80|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long which is double the {{convert|41|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} length of the current Coradia LINT trains. The new trains will operate alongside coupled pairs of the existing LINT trains on the main line as part of a mixed fleet. These vehicles will be manufactured in Switzerland before being transported to Canada for final assembly.^[26]

Facilities

Train sets are stored at the Walkley Yard located northeast of the Greenboro station. Before their retirement, the Bombardier Talent trainsets were maintained by Bombardier Transportation at the Walkley facilities. Bombardier continues to perform maintenance of the Trillium Line fleet, which included standstill maintenance of the retired Bombardier Talent trains until March 8, 2018.^[28]

The Walkley Yard was built in 1955 by the National Capital Commission for the Canadian National Railways and later sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway. The yard has enclosed buildings for repairs and outdoor storage tracks.

Stage 2 replacement

As part of the Stage 2 project, a new maintenance facility will be built adjacent and to the west to the existing facilities.^[29]

See also

• Confederation Line
• Letsgomoose
• Light rail in Canada
• Light rail in North America
• List of tram and light rail transit systems
• Prince of Wales Bridge
• Rapibus

References

External links

• OC Transpo – O-Train Trillium Line (official site)
• Stage 2 - Trillium Line South - A City of Ottawa site publicizing O-Train expansion proposals
  • [https://www.stage2lrt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/lrt_stage2_south_en.png Map of expansion plan]
• O-Train Evaluation Report
• O-Train Light Rail Project Summary (Transport Canada)
• O-Train construction pictures
• [https://churcher.crcml.org/candate/Otrain.htm Salient Features of the O TRAIN (Trillium) Route]

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