Election post mortem: Four more years of disappointing railway policy

I wasn’t at all surprised with the results of the Ottawa municipal election. In the absence of any real challenger, our mayor was re-elected for a third term. In the aftermath of the election, there were a few comments that I found quite interesting, especially when it comes to the issue of commuter rail in Eastern Ontario.

For now, the Beachburg Sub will remain largely lifeless. Although some think a regional commuter system along the lines of GO Transit is inevitable on this line. 

1. Although Clive Doucet lost the mayoral race handily, he is earning some plaudits for raising the possibility of regional rail for Eastern Ontario. Although I often did not find myself agreeing with Doucet when he was a city councillor, I agree with his regional rail idea. After the election, he said he was confident that Ottawa will see regional rail, along the lines of the GO Train in the Toronto area. His point was simple. Given that the Ottawa-Gatineau area now boasts more than 1.3 million people, the area is now probably big enough to sustain some form of commuter rail operation. I’m not sure if Doucet made those comments based on something he knows, but I like that he said it. I am less optimistic. I don’t see any regional rail champion in Ottawa. Everyone is aboard the LRT bandwagon, as flawed as it is.

2. For months, I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about the city’s LRT plan that bothers me. Doucet, to his credit, made this simple observation during the campaign that sums up what I feel. Phase I is too short. I have often remarked on this blog that emptying out Ottawa’s eastern suburban commuters at Blair Station and its western suburbs at Tunney’s Pasture really doesn’t benefit anyone in the short term. It only adds another step, and likely time, to my morning commute. It does nothing to take buses off the roads in the suburbs. So who does Phase I benefit? The downtown and the communities in and around the core like Westboro, Hintonburg, Wellington West, Vanier and Sandy Hill. The LRT will take the express commuter buses off the roads in those neighbourhoods, but it does nothing for massive communities like Kanata, Orleans and Barrhaven in the short term. Considering how many delays there have been with the first phase of the Confederation Line, it seems to me that it might have been a better idea to take several more years and combine Phase I and II together. At least then, the new LRT line would connect Orleans in the east and Moodie Drive in the west.

I'm not sure if it will take $25 million to reconnect the Trillium Line with the Prince of Wales Bridge, but it seems like a little foresight could have prevented the future costs.

3. It emerged during the mayoral race that it will likely require $40 million to rehabilitate the Prince of Wales Bridge to make it fit for trains again. Doucet’s campaign also estimated that reconnecting the trackage over the Ottawa River to the existing O-Train Trillium Line would cost $25 million. I’m not sure where they came up with that figure, but it seems high to me. However, I think the larger point here is that the city will have to pay dearly for its lack of foresight on this strategic rail asset that it has owned and neglected for years.

4. Surprisingly, amid the debate over commuter rail during the election campaign, there was very little said about the Moose Consortium, which has been fighting with the city over its neglect of the bridge and the connection of the bridge’s rails to the Trillium Line. You will recall that Moose won an important victory over the city not too long ago, which had forced the city to scramble.

5. One point that Doucet made during the campaign that really struck me as brilliant was his point about the viability of a regional rail system. While Watson’s camp dismissed Doucet’s plan constantly, Doucet raised the point that thousands of commuters from outlying communities like Limoges, Smiths Falls, Chelsea, Wakefield, Kemptville and Arnprior all make their way into Ottawa each day and chew up our roads, without having to pay for their maintenance. While it’s true that a regional rail system would require a substantial subsidy from all the municipalities involved, is it not better to get these cars off the roads and get these commuters paying some sort of fare to ride a train to work? At least under this system, we would be getting some sort of compensation from those who make their way into Ottawa whereas now, we get nothing.

6. Parts of Doucet’s plans called for commuter rail to parts of Kanata North, which would have been a good idea several years ago when the city had the chance to buy a small portion of the old CN Beachburg Subdivision. Sadly, nothing happened and those rails are gone. I feel bad for residents of Kanata. All this spending on light rail and they will see no benefits whatsoever for many years still. Their only hope might be some sort of connection via the old Renfrew Sub near March Road.

It was an interesting mayoral race, which had me agreeing with politicians I have never agreed with in the past. I would really like to believe Mr. Doucet that regional rail is an idea whose time has come, but I think we are now stuck with four more years of leadership that truly has no understanding of railway policy.

Get on the GO, Ottawa: An honest look at a regional commuter railway

Apologies since this post is a few days late. I was planning to post it on Friday but was without power for much of the weekend, due to a massive power outage in Ottawa and Gatineau, as a result of a string of tornadoes that damaged parts of the area - Michael

With last week’s rant about the city’s laughable railway rhetoric out of my system, I want to take the time to look at the idea of regional commuter rail in Ottawa. As many locals know and as I shared last week, Clive Doucet, a former city councillor running for mayor, has floated his idea for light rail in the National Capital Region, which takes a page out of the current O-Train plans and also borrows heavily from the Moose playbook.

Of course, our current mayor has dismissed Doucet’s plans out of hand, which is unfortunate. I will agree that Doucet’s plans require much more work, but there is so much about his idea that deserves a harder look. It’s a shame no one on the city’s current council, including the mayor, wants to explore anything other than their own vision for commuter rail in this city.

So, in the absence of any real analysis from the experts, I present to you my own analysis of Mr. Doucet’s railway plan, from my own point of view. I don’t pretend, of course, to have all the answers. But I would hope I can at least inject a little common sense into this farcical debate. Let’s begin.

Is this type of commuter rail possible in Ottawa? It depends on who you ask

The Good

The plan calls for service to a number of rural communities in the region, connecting Ottawa to many commuters in the east, west, south and north. Many people from outlying areas still drive to work, which is why Highway 417 is jammed every rush hour in both directions.

The plan calls for using existing rails, which is such a simple and cost effective idea, I’m surprised it hasn’t even been explored.

The plan isn’t an all-or-nothing plan. In other words, it’s not just about building new, electrified light rail lines in stages in the city over the next decade or so. There is a real chance to establish heavy rail commuter trains on existing tracks in short order.

The plan calls for a rail link over the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The responsibility for the system would likely be shared among municipalities, not just Ottawa.

There is a potential to get two provincial governments involved in this project (read: more potential money)

The Bad

There is a potential to get two provincial governments involved in this project. I know I wrote that in the good column as well, but it’s a double-edged sword. With the current government in Ontario not likely to want to be the steward of another GO Transit system in the province, it’s unlikely the regional rail system here would have the same model as the one in the Greater Toronto Area. Also, with a potential change in government looming in Quebec, who knows what the new government will want to do in the Outaouais region? The area is an anomaly in Quebec for many reasons, including its dependency on the federal government and its voting patterns, which sometimes run contrary to the rest of the province.

Critics have estimated that the Prince of Wales Bridge needs $40 million in repairs to prepare it for railway use again.

An interprovincial regional commuter service would come under the jurisdiction of the federal government’s Canadian Transportation Agency (read: complications).

The plan calls for rail links to areas that no longer have rail lines (Fitzroy Harbour, Chelsea, Quebec, Navan, Stittsville, Kanata North).

This is what is left of a line that would serve Fitzroy Harbour on a commuter line. In other words, there is nothing left.

This plan would require the repurposing or expropriation of recreational trails, which are jealously guarded in this city. This would not be easy.

The plan calls for negotiating running rights with Via Rail Canada, Canadian National, a company in Arnprior and municipalities that own former rail rights-of-way. This is because the proposed system would use the Smiths Falls Subdivision (a very busy Via Rail corridor), the Alexandria Subdivision (also a busy Via corridor), the Nylene Canada-owned Renfrew Spur, the former Maniwaki Subdivision and the parts of the old Lachute Subdivision that are under the control of the City of Gatineau. In other words, there are many, many, many moving parts.

Can commuter trains share the Smiths Falls Sub (seen here at Cedarview Road) with Via Rail Canada? It would be tricky to say the least, but not impossible.

It’s not clear how a heavy rail system would function with the Confederation Line and the Trillium Line.

So, with that stated, let’s take a close look at what might be involved if a regional commuter railway was planned and where the trains might operate.

Carleton Place Subdivision

It’s obvious from the map that Doucet wants to use parts of the old Beachburg Subdivision to reach Bells Corners and then the old Carleton Place Sub to reach Stittsville. Getting to Bells Corners will require the acquisition of running rights from CN, a publicly traded company. I would imagine this might be trickier than some realize. Although this line is used once a week for the Arnprior turn, I can’t imagine CN would want to do any work on the rails to get them ready for commuter trains. The connection from Bells Corners to Stittsville will require repurposing what is now the Rideau Trail and parts of the Trans Canada Trail, all of which were once the old CP right-of-way. This will be tricky and likely opposed by many people in parts of south Kanata and Stittsville. Doucet’s map shows a connection between Stittsville and Kinburn, which makes no sense since Kinburn is on the old Renfrew Spur and would not likely be part of the Stittsville connection.

Another wrench in the works is that the old Bells Junction switch in Bells Corners has been removed and the small spur branching off the Beachburg Sub lifted. That right-of-way has been sold and is slated to make way for a street that will provide access to a new housing development next to a trailer park.

This is the last look at Bells Junction, which no longer exists. A plan to use the old Carleton Place Sub for commuter rail would require very tricky land deals.

Beachburg Subdivision (north of Nepean Junction)

Using the old Beachburg Subdivision to access Merivale Road is a great idea. This section of the subdivision (past Federal) is basically not used with the exception of Wednesday and this area could really benefit from a commuter rail connection. But after passing through Bells Corners, the old Beachburg Subdivision past Nepean Junction is gone. Rebuilding the roadbed all the way to Fitzroy Harbour will be monumentally expensive and likely not worth the effort, since the communities along this old railway line are not large enough to justify such a large capital project. The real benefit to using this old railway would be if it was used to connect Pembroke and Petawawa to Ottawa. But rebuilding this old piece of the CN Northern Transcon is not going to happen. This was a project that should have been explored years ago, before CN cut and run. A more practical approach would be to rebuild the right-of-way into North Kanata, where it could serve the large technology community and subdivisions there. Anything beyond that area would be a sucker’s bet.

Renfrew Spur

As mentioned above, this rail line is used once a week for the Arnprior turn. I'm not sure it would fit into Doucet's plan, although I suspect it would since Kinburn is listed as a community to be served by his system. The good news is Nylene Canada, which owns the rails, has already stated in the media that it would be open to finding ways to increase the uses for this rail line. And the land that the rails occupy is owned by the city. This land was bought by the old Region of Ottawa-Carleton for future use as a commuter line. If only that trend had continued. The bad news is, this line would not actually reach Arnprior, where it would be most useful. That's a big oversight in the Doucet plan, in my opinion.

The Renfrew Spur (seen here realigned at the old Nepean Junction) might find a willing partner in Nylene Canada, which owns the rails.

Alexandria Subdivision

Using this line to connect the city to Limoges could work, but there are a lot of Via Rail trains and some CN freight trains that would provide significant scheduling difficulties. There’s also the somewhat odd choice of a connection with Navan in Doucet’s plan. This would require new rails to be built so Navan could be connected with Vars, which is on the Alexandria Sub. It should be pointed out that there is a remnant of an old rail line that could connect Navan, but that link would require a trail be repurposed for rail use again, which is a tall task in a city that is spoiled with an abundance of recreational trails. At first glance, it seems as though someone was just pinning communities on a map without much thought as to what rail line is actually available for use. I think the Navan connection would be highly difficult to achieve. The use of the Alexandria Sub would likely require double tracking parts of this right-of-way and significant negotiations with Via Rail. To be honest, I don’t see any incentive for Via in clearing the way for regional commuter trains on this right-of-way.

Can commuter trains shares the Alexandria Sub with Via Rail Canada? One candidate for mayor is counting on it.

Smiths Falls Subdivision

The same can be said for the Smiths Falls Sub. This is a very busy Via Rail line and there would not be much incentive for Via Rail to share this rail line, if it meant any disruption in its service between Ottawa and Toronto. But, on paper, it makes sense to link Barrhaven and Richmond to the downtown on this line. That would get commuter rail to this part of the city much sooner than the current plan to extend the old CP Prescott Subdivision to Riverside South on the existing right-of-way. One potential problem is this rail line doesn’t actually get all that close to the downtown. The closest  section would be Pleasant Park, so it would require some creativity to get these commuters into the core.

Maniwaki Subdivision

Once again, the plan to extend commuter rail up the Gatineau River Valley would have been a great idea a few years ago, when the municipally owned line was in a state of flux. This line never recovered from a series of wash-outs years ago, which cost the region its unique Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Steam Train. Just last winter, the last-ditch efforts to get a tourist operations back on the rails on this old line essentially fell flat when the towns along the line began lifting the rails. It’s too bad because, with some work, this line would have been perfect for commuter rail as it was essentially inactive for parts of the year.

Lachute Subdivision

The one complicating factor to using the old Lachute trackage through Gatineau is that this line is slated to become an important part of that city’s light rail system, which is in the very early planning stages. The tracks have been rebuilt by the city, after they were ripped up to make way for the city’s Rapibus system. So, the line is in good shape. But the questions of clashing plans and interprovincial jurisdiction and funding would likely confuse the process.

Commuter trains on this section of the Lachute Sub might find willing partners in Gatineau, depending on the city's own plans for light rail.

Prescott Subdivision

I find it strange that Doucet's plan does not include the planned extension of the O-Train Trillium Line to Riverside South. This project, which was finally embraced by the current council after years of dithering, would be an important part of any regional commuter system. Better still, there is a corridor beyond Leitrim Road where the old CP Prescott Sub could be extended to reach communities like Manotick Station and Kemptville. Currently, this right-of-way exists as some sort of recreational trail. I think there's a great deal of potential with this old line.

So that’s my take. It’s too bad that this wasn’t the starting point of commuter rail discussions years ago, when the city was contemplating what to do beyond the currently operating O-Train on the old Ellwood Subdivision. It seems like elements of this plan could really be useful pieces to the city’s mass transit needs in the future.

The Prince of Wales Bridge: Oh, no, not again

Just when you thought it was safe to put this piece of Ottawa's rail past and future on the back burner, the Prince of Wales Bridge has once again made headlines. The bridge, which has not seen action in many years, has long been neglected by its current owner, the City of Ottawa. After years of rejecting calls to preserve the bridge for use as an interprovincial light rail link, the city has finally come around to the idea of using the bridge for commuter trains in the future. So, all is well right? Well, not so, apparently.

As many locals know, the Prince of Wales Bridge was once a key piece of the Canadian Pacific Railway's rail network in Ottawa. It once played a key role in connecting the CP Ellwood, Prescott, Lachute and Maniwaki Subdivisions in the National Capital Region. In the final days of the Canadian Pacific's presence in the region in the late 1990s, the bridge was lightly used although it did connect CP to its last remaining customers on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. After CP left Ottawa, the bridge was purchased by the city as part of the deal it struck to buy the Ellwood Subdivision, which is now the O-Train Trillium Line.

In recent months, the city has been busy putting the final touches on the O-Train Confederation Line. The new electrified light rail line crosses over the old  Ellwood Subdivision. The contractor building the line is in the midst of constructing the new Bayview O-Train station, which will allow commuters to transfer from the electrified Confederation Line with the diesel-powered Trillium Line (there will be no rail connection like a diamond due to interoperability issues between the two O-Train systems).

The problem that the city has now is that the old rail line that leads to the bridge was removed, which is a no-no under federal laws. This is the position of the Moose Consortium, a organization that has plans to establish a private regional commuter service on the existing rail lines in the capital region. Now the city is in big trouble, it seems, with the Canadian Transportation Agency, which is the body that grants permission for rail lines to be removed. Making matters worse for the city, it appears that it okayed permanent structures to be built atop the old rail line. Now the city has until the end of the month to explain to the federal agency why it has removed rail without following the proper procedures, according to local coverage.

In my former life as a journalist, I spoke to the man behind the Moose Consortium Joseph Potvin and he told me flat out he was going to make sure that the city lived up to its obligations as the owner of the rail line and the Prince of Wales Bridge. He told me more than once that he would do everything he could to make sure that the infrastructure at Bayview was kept in some sort of operational condition. He says fixing this mistake will cost the city $20 million.

Here's what I am wondering. If the city is serious about using this bridge for rail, which finally appears to be the case, why is the city building over this line? If what Moose is saying to true, why would there not be a plan in place to preserve this rail?

Here's the biggest question in my mind: Am I the only one who noticed when the Trillium Line was rebuilt that the Trillium Line's connection to the old trackage to the bridge was disconnected and buried? It's been several years since this part of the rail line was removed, but nothing was said then. While I appreciate that the removal of the 250 or so metres near the new Bayview Station is much more noticeable, I wonder why nothing was said about the original disconnection of the Prince of Wales trackage years ago.

I can only shake my head as a railfan and as a taxpayer that this situation is resolved properly.

For consideration: GO Trains in Ottawa

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks Ottawa needs to retain what little heavy rail network it has left.

In my travels with family this summer, I ended up having an interesting conversation with a friend of my wife's family that once operated a truck stop in Cardinal, Ont., a small town in Eastern Ontario. She mentioned to me that she found operating the business extremely difficult because finding staff was a major headache. She explained that most people told her they were chasing a federal public service job in Ottawa. This got me to thinking.

Thousands upon thousands of Eastern Ontarians commute into Ottawa each day to work in the federal public service. The traffic volumes on the region's two 400-series highways are a testament to the commuting patterns in the region. There's also little debate over the growing traffic jams on the roads.

I began to think about this conversation the other day when I stumbled across another conversation on YouTube. The commenters spoke of how silly it was that no one stepped in in 1997 to save the old CP Prescott Subdivision between Kemptville and Ottawa. Another commenter questioned why the dormant CN Beachburg Subdivision between Nepean Junction and the Pontiac Region in Quebec hasn't been eyed for a regional rail commuting service.

It seems painfully obvious that the last remnants of the CN Beachburg Sub north of Nepean Junction will be gone before long, even though it has managed to remain intact this summer, much to my surprise.

Going, going, gone: Could this stretch of the old CP Prescott Subdivision have hosted GO Trains for Eastern Ontario commuters? Some people here think so. Too bad this rail is now gone.

In 2009, a group that once operated the Ottawa Central Railway attempted to purchase the remnants of the Beachburg Subdivision. I recall interviewing James Allen, the former general manager of the OCR, for a story I wrote for a local news website. In addition to establishing immediate freight service for a wood pellet plant in Pontiac, Que., Allen said there were plans for a regional commuter service between Renfrew County, the Pontiac Region and Ottawa. It would be focused on those who work in Ottawa and live in the valley (what locals call the area northwest of Ottawa).

Unfortunately, rails were lifted from Pembroke all the way to the Quebec border. The remainder of the rails to Nepean Junction also seem to be on their way out, despite some very measured and sensible arguments about the importance of this infrastructure to the future of the region. Sadly, Ottawa has expressed no interest in this line, even though city staff said they would be interested in buying the land for a recreational trail. If this city valued its rail infrastructure as much as it values its trail network, local transit would not be such a challenge.

Could the Beachburg Subdivision see new life as a commuter line in west Ottawa? It doesn't seem like city planners see any potential for this corridor other than as a future recreational trail.

The obstacles to regional rail in Eastern Ontario are formidable. The National Capital Region spans two provinces, which means a number of provincial policies would need to be streamlined for a regional service to operate across the Ottawa River. Don't count on this. Ottawa and Gatineau can't even agree what to do with the Prince of Wales railway bridge, which has sat dormant and neglected for years.

Another significant barrier would be how this system would be funded. Would municipalities have to buy in on their own dime? Would the service be funded through the Ontario government like GO? How would it be funded if it crossed over into Quebec? How would it operate in conjunction with the existing Ottawa bus and O-Train service? How would it operate around other rail operations like Via and CN in the capital region?

These are all tough questions, but it seems to me that some have remarkably straightforward answers. Toronto's transit system is far from perfect, but I have never heard anything bad about the GO Trains. Having taken GO Trains before, I can vouch for their reliability and convenience. It seems that this is a conversation worth having in this region.

Why? Well, Ottawa's main expressway, the Queensway, is being widened  in the city's east end, but it's obvious that the highway has no room left to expand in many spots through the city. The city's planned Confederation Line O-Train expansion will not be open until 2017. And the new east-west line will operate from Tunney's Pasture to Blair, on brand new trackage. These areas of the city are sparsely populated at best.

Tunney's Pasture is a warren of outdated government office buildings, with very little connection to nearby neighbourhoods. And it has the advantage of being fairly close to the downtown core. It is already well served by the existing bus commuter road, the Transitway. How this area became the western terminus for the new O-Train line is beyond me. It is by no means underserved.

Blair, the city's east end, is a commercial area with lots of commercial development, but very little housing in the immediate vicinity. Again, I struggle to understand how this became the eastern terminus.

The existing north-south O-Train line, from Bayview Station to Greenboro Station, is well used. There has been talk about extending this line, which was once the CP Ellwood and Prescott Sub. Existing trackage has been left in place all the way to Leitrim Road, which is a road in the city's south end, relatively close to the Riverside South neighbourhood, which is crying out for better transit options. The city owns the old CP right-of-way to Osgoode, a community in the city's mainly rural southern countryside. Why the rails were never retained along this right-of-way is a real head scratcher. The city now faces the possibility of having to install a new rail line along the old CP right-of-way, just to reach Riverside South and other developing communities in Ottawa's southern suburbs like Greeley and Manotick. The lack of vision is astounding.

Taking all of this into consideration, it seems to me that regional rail could still be done in Eastern Ontario, provided the political will and vision is there.

Unfortunately, this might be the biggest obstacle of all.