(Posted 5:30 p.m., Aug. 23)
Light rail project remains on track, especially in the east end
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

If you are one of the thousands of commuters who drive past the Gloucester Centre transitway every day and the work that’s being done on the light rail transit line, you may be wondering when all that work is going to be completed and you can hop on a train rather than get stuck in traffic.

The good news is that it is still on schedule to be completed in 2018. The bad news is that no one knows for sure yet when it will be completed in 2018.

According to Pat Scrimgeour, the director of transit customer systems and planning for OC Transpo, there are still a number of intangibles that could delay the opening anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

The Blair Road Station from the inside looking out towards the Split (above); and an LRT train is tested along the eastern part of the Confederation Line (below). Fred Sherwin and OC Transpo Photos

Beacon Hill, Cyrville Ward councillor Tim Tierney is hoping light rail will be given a green light sometime in the spring. It’s almost certain it will be open before Ottawa residents head to the polls for the municipal election in November.

The work has already been completed on the dual railway track and overhead wires from St. Laurent to Blair Road, and the trains are already being tested.

The remaining work, at least in the east end, needs to be done on the stations themselves.

The Blair Road station is still in need of an escalator and elevator; the concrete drop off area still needs to be poured and the wall and ceiling panel installations remain to be done.

The same work also needs to be done at the Cyrville Road station.

Scrimgeour says the LRT route will become operational only after it is operational and all the bugs have been worked out of the system.

“We will test it as many times as it takes to make sure their are no major issues when we start taking on passengers,” says Scrimgeour.

That approach is fine with Beacon Hill- Cyrville Ward councillor Tim Tierney who wants things to run as smoothly as possible on Day 1 whenever that day arrives.

“I know some people are anxious and they want to know when they will able to make the switch to light rail, and I can appreciate that. I’m anxious too to see it going, but it’s imperative that we undergo the proper testing to make sure everything is in proper working order,” says Tierney.

Once light rail does officially get rolling, east end commuters will take their local express route to the Blair Road station and board the train which will run every five minutes and carry up 600 people.

Scrimgeour says they do not anticipate there will be any bottlenecks during the rush hour.

“The riders will be able to get off their bus walk a short flight of stairs and get on their train,” says Scrimgeour.

The same will be true when coming back from downtown in the afternoon. Transit users will no longer have to search for their specific route. Instead they will simply walk onborad the next train and get of at either Cyrville Road or Blair.

One thing commuters must keep in mind is the fact that there will be no park and ride lot at either east end station and parking in the Gloucester Centre Mall parking lot will be strictly enforced.

Scrimgeour says commuters will have to park in the park and ride lots at Trim Road and Place d’Orléans and take a bus to the station.

Construction is also continuing fur-ther west and downtown. And work is continuing on the first of three rental towers just to the west of the Blair Road station.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

Visit www.orleansonline.ca's main page