The curious history of Fallowfield Station's name

Fallowfield Station is 21 years old this year and, for its entire history, has drawn confusion over its name. Look through old news coverage of the station when it opened in 2002 and you will see that people wrote letters to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen, asking Via Rail to change the name of the station to Barrhaven, where it is located in the southwest of Ottawa's urban area. 

There are a few interesting points to consider when considering why the station is named Fallowfield. The most important point is that the station is technically located on Fallowfield Road, which is an arterial road on the northern edge of the massive suburb. That is a reasonable enough explanation on its face, but it's not that simple. Those who know their geography in the Ottawa area know that a small rural village, located between Bells Corners and Richmond, is called Fallowfield. This beautiful rural community traces its routes back to the 1870s. It boasts a beautiful old stone church, St. Patrick's, which sits atop Steeple Hill (naturally), just off Old Richmond Road. 

For our purposes, it's important to note that the Fallowfield community is located nine kilometres away from the actual station that bears its name. Using St. Patrick's as a reference point, Google Maps shows that the distance from the Steeple Hill area, where many Fallowfield residents live, to the station is 9.1 kilometres. For Ottawa area residents, this is no longer an issue, as most people understand the station and the community are not the same thing, but for people unfamiliar with this city, it begs the question why the station would be named Fallowfield.

The second point to consider is that the station's name is not without precedent. Consider that Via Rail's suburban station in Scarborough is called Guildwood, although in that case, the station is located in a community by the name Guildwood, that eventually was subsumed by Scarborough. Also, Via Rail's station in Hamilton is called Aldershot. Both of these names predate Via Rail, so neither of these unique choices can be credited to Via. But for our purposes, there is historical precedence for giving a station a name that does not align with the community it serves. 

It's important to note that railways have often located their stations in areas that are most advantageous to them, rather than what is convenient to the town they serve. This was often done to discourage land speculators from benefiting from selling overpriced land in an area where a railway was expected to be built. In some cases, a station was built along a rail line that bypassed the nearest town altogether. Look at Gananoque's station in Cheeseborough as an example. In the case of this town, a branchline was opened to the station so the town wouldn't be left behind. Also, look in Ottawa's south end, where the old CP Prescott Subdivision as once located. Consider how far the Manotick Station area is, where the line was went through, from the actual community of Manotick.

In the case of Fallowfield Station, the name is not the product of Via Rail shenanigans. It was the product of an OC Transpo suburban pack and ride facility for its city buses. The park and ride facility was built at the corner of Fallowfield Road and Woodroffe Avenue before Via Rail began to consider opening up its station.

This is where the bizarre railway policy in Ottawa municipal politics enters the picture. When Nepean city council began lobbying for a train station in Barrhaven, one idea was that the Via station would be a useful resource for people in the west end of the Ottawa urban area, who didn't want to travel to the Ottawa Station, east of Ottawa's downtown to catch a train to Toronto. 

But even more than the convenience factor for west end residents, the Via station was seen as an important potential link in a commuter railway network using existing rails in the city. Look at the news coverage from the late 1990s and early 2000s and you will read about numerous local politicians extolling the virtues of a multi-modal commuter station that linked together buses, commuter trains and Via Rail. The idea was for the station to be a GO station, in addition to a link on the Via Rail network.

When I was researching the history of the station, there it was in black in while: proof that this city once had a coherent, reasonable commuter railway policy that included the common sense notion of using the infrastructure in place to move people to and from the suburbs into the core using existing rail. 

Of course, those notions of using existing rails were repeatedly dismissed by so-called progressive visions of a more European rail network, using electric light rail vehicles on a new right-of-way on an east-west axis. We know the rest of that story, which is still sadly unfolding today.

So, why Fallowfield Station? Well, because at one point, Fallowfield Station as supposed to double as a commuter rail station for OC Transpo, so it needed to have the same name as the OC Transpo park and ride bus station that was already in place.

When successive councils repeatedly quashed the idea of using existing rails to serve as a basis for commuter rail service in the city, the name for Via Rail's Barrhaven station became even more questionable. Eventually a decision was reached to include the name Barrhaven in parenthesis on the station signs. 

As Paul Harvey used to say: Now you know, the rest of the story.

Sure, it looks cool, but...

On my lunch break a month ago, I made my way to the western portal for the new O-Train downtown tunnel. I did it for no particular reason other than to get some photos of the new Alstom Citadis Spirit trainsets making their way into and out of the tunnel. Given I went on a brilliantly sunny day, it was easy to get a few shots from the overpass over the tracks that also houses the upper level of the Pimisi O-Train station.

Eastbound O-Train makes its way to the downtown transit tunnel, as seen from Pimisi Station

I don't want to get into the messy history of this new line. The consortium building this new railway missed its completion deadline in the spring when the system was to be turned over the city so it could commence transit operations. That last delay meant it's been more than a year since this line was supposed to open to commuters. There are many, many different angles of this debacle that I could get into, but I'm growing really tired of blogging about it.

Now we're told that the city will officially take ownership of the line in mid-August and trains will roll in September. That's the last pledge, anyway.

Westbound O-Train makes its way toward Pimisi Station during a test run

Ottawa LRT is a notoriously tight-lipped consortium that has repeatedly failed to explain to the public why it is taking so long to finish this project. The city, for its part, has also been notoriously vague regarding a number of aspects of this project, often giving maddeningly bureaucratic answers to the simplest of questions. The company that built these trains, Alstom, is trying to ease fears that these European trainsets will be able to handle the Canadian climate, even though they have never before been in use in North America and have so far proved to be unreliable at times.

I could go on and on, but I won't.

As a communications guy, I will reserve my criticism for the mayor and councillors who have been trying their hardest to drum up any sort of excitement for this new line. The problem I have with their barrage of social media outreach about this rail line is that it is completely tone deaf. Every time I see a councillor's tweet with video of the new O-Train being tested, I roll my eyes. The tweets are usually accompanied by some sort of overly positive, hopeful comment about how we should all be very excited about commuting on these trains.

If I was in communications with the city, I would advise those around the council table to adjust their tone to acknowledge the fact that these delays are extending the grief for many people in the city. It hasn't made a huge difference to my commute, but for some, it's been a constant hassle. For the residents who live on roads where hundreds of buses have been rerouted each day, it's been a nightmare.

The constant barrage of positivity coming from the city is understandable, but misguided. When you have a project this far behind which is causing this many headaches, you can't fault the citizens of Ottawa for rolling their eyes and not getting on board with vapid cheerleading efforts. Instead of telling us all to don't worry, be happy, maybe a change is in order as we (possibly) approach the finish line.

Maybe change the message to say we're sorry for these problems, but it will be worth it. I would appreciate that approach much more than what I'm seeing right now.

Program note: I mentioned last week that I would share photos and commentary about the Perth Turn, which originates in CP's Smiths Falls yard. I will share that post next week, but wanted to bump up this post, given that it now appears the LRT project may actually, finally be close to being ready.

Spring observations in Ottawa

As the city’s Confederation Line light rail system lumbers toward completion, there remains a flurry of activity at a number of points along the line. I recently took a stroll along the tracks just west of the downtown, to see what was happening.

The first site I saw was the exposed western tunnel entrance. This is the first time I saw the tunnel entrance, which has been covered until very recently. Over the course of the early spring, the final tie clips were fastened into place, thus completing the Confederation Line from Blair Station in the east with Tunney’s Pasture Station in the west.

At Bayview Station, where the Confederation Line crosses over the existing Trillium Line, workers were busy with a number of tasks, including extending the Trillium Line beneath the Confederation Line flyover. This is an interesting job, since Bayview Station remains at the centre of a dispute between the City of Ottawa and the group calling itself the Moose Consortium.

As you have read here before, Moose has been battling the city over use of the Prince of Wales Bridge, which once connected the old Canadian Pacific Ellwood Subdivision with the CP trackage in Quebec, including the Maniwaki and Lachute Subs. The Trillium Line has been disconnected from the bridge for several years, as you saw in this photo I took in 2013.

More recently, when work began on Bayview Station, a portion of the trackage leading the the bridge was covered over by consruction. Moose, which has goals of establishing some sort of regional commuter rail service in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, challenged the city before federal authorities. Moose has long argued that the city cannot simply sever this trackage from the O-Train line without proceeding with discontinuance of service paperwork with the Canadian Transportation Agency. The city has argued that has long-term plans for the old rail bridge.

Whatever the outcome, the city cannot deny that, even recently, it had money set aside to convert the bridge into a recreational pathway. The city also cannot claim that has done much to maintain the bridge. The CTA recently sided with Moose, meaning it agreed with the group’s position that the city cannot sever the rail line over the Ottawa River from its Trillium Line without going through a discontuance process. The city is appealing that decision. At the very least, it appears that the tracks laid beneath the Confederation Line could very easily link back up with the trackage leading the bridge. I doubt that was the reason why the tracks were laid there, but it at least raises the possibility that the city might finally get serious about using the bridge for commuter rail.

Speaking of the Prince of Wales Bridge, the rusting old relic found itself as the centre of attention briefly during the early days of the Ontario provincial election. A group of local Liberals made an announcement that they would support any efforts to extend the city’s light rail system over the bridge. This announcement made me roll my eyes for several reasons. First, it seems strange to me pledge support for an extension of this system over the river at a time when this potential part of the light rail system is not an immediate priority. I also laugh whenever the city begins the trumpet the fact that the province is chipping in on the light rail system, as if the money is coming from some other taxpayer. Message to politicians: the city taxpayer, the provincial taxpayer and the federal taxpayer are all the same people.

For those who are following the progress of the Confederation Line, you may have noticed that a complete trainset has been sitting on the tracks near Tunney’s Pasture Station for weeks. The trainset is being guarded around the clock, even though the tracks at this point are in a deep cut. I suspect that those living near this end of the line will soon be seeing test runs. Most of the testing that has happened so far is happening near Belfast Yard on the east end of the line.

I did manage to take some time to get a few shots of the Trillium Line recently, including this meet between two diesel powered trainsets near Somerset Street. As anyone who takes the bus in Ottawa knows, the Trillium Line has been numbered “Line 2” while the Confederation has been numbered “Line 1.” I find this a bit odd, since the city went to great trouble to rebrand the original O-Train line as the Trillium Line. Now, if you are on a city bus nearing Bayview Station, you will hear the automated public address system announce “Bayview Station, O-Train Line 2.” I wonder if this will confuse anyone who have come to know the original O-Train line as the Trillium Line.

Oh well, at least all this activity has given us something to talk about.

Confederation Line is nearing completion

I won’t say I’ve come around to the city’s vision of the O-Train, but I have to say I understand some of the elements of Phase I better, having seen another city’s light rail system. Recently, my family visited Kitchener-Waterloo. As my wife attended a professional conference, I was able to spend some time in the city, where I lived for a few years.

My first impression of that region’s light rail system was that the north-south line was very much incorporated into the Kitchener and Waterloo city streets. I’ve long thought that we could avoid the costly construction of a downtown tunnel here in Ottawa by planning a smart rail corridor on Slater and Albert streets, two major one-way streets that bisect downtown Ottawa from east to west. These streets are cluttered with buses every day. It made sense to me that you could replace those buses with a surface rail line and still be able to retain a thoroughfare for vehicles. Of course, that vision died with former Mayor Larry O’Brien, who began to champion the idea of a tunnel.

When I saw the KW tracks running up and down King Street in parts of Kitchener and Waterloo, my first impression was that the region there is heading for massive traffic headaches. In some spots, these light rail tracks make sharp right turns and dominate busy intersections. In other places, drivers will be forced to make right turns off King Street by crossing the tracks, which are tucked away to the right of the street and separated by a small curb. I can foresee trouble with this system, based on my fleeting assessment. It looks much more like a streetcar line than a light rail line.

A friend of mine told me that the region has had troubles in recent months with delayed delivery of the Bombardier trainsets. So far, only a handful of trains have been delivered and have been tested on the new KW light rail system.

Ottawa, by comparison, looks to be in good shape. The fleet of Alstom light rail trains has largely been delivered and is being tested and readied for next year’s launch of commuter service, whenever that actually happens.

Recently, I was able to have a look at the progress of the Confederation Line on its west end. Most of my looks at the new system have been in the east end, particularly around the Via Rail station on Tremblay Road. The eastern half of the system is much further along in its development than the west end, but that is changing.

July view of the Confederation Line tracks near Belfast Road, near the Via Rail station

Catenary is going up on the LeBreton Flats. Rails have been laid in recent months. The Pimisi, Bayview and Tunney’s Pasture stations are all starting to take shape, including the roofs, stairs, walkways, platforms and other structural features. I know the Lyon and Parliament stations are also taking shape nicely, although that progress is not being seen, since both stations are underground.

I was walking in the area when I caught site of some maintenance of way equipment near Pimisi Station. It’s a good sign that testing might not be far off.

The poles are up, the MoW equipment is on the line and progress is being made. Those buildings you see in the distance are Tunney's Pasture, where the Confederation line will end next year.

Meanwhile, the Trillium Line continues to operate, as per usual, in the shadow of the Confederation Line hype. I was on the Trillium Line not too long ago and took this shot from the Carling station platform.

The city rolled out its Get Ready for Rail ad campaign in recent months to educate riders about how the new transit system is going to work. In many respects, the transit system we have now is a point to point system, but it will change to more of a hub and spoke system when the Confederation Line is operational.

The city has even asked residents to submit their ideas for train names, as each train will be named. I was told that “Trainy McTrainface” will not be accepted, but the appeal was made to children in particular, so who knows what direction that naming will take? I wonder if Thomas will make the cut.

As you get closer to the western terminus of the Confederation Line at Tunney’s Pasture, you can see the first signs of the catenary poles going up, as most of them have been erected. I am hoping in the coming months that I might be able to catch some images of testing happening on the LeBreton Flats section of the line.

Speaking of that end of the line, you can see the recently erected fencing that is preventing people from using the Prince of Wales Bridge as a makeshift pedestrian crossing. There were some fairly significant protests when the city finally came around to the fact that the bridge will be used for light rail, but those efforts did not go far. Common sense prevailed instead.

To be honest, I'm surprised it took the city this long to fence off this bridge, given the potential safety issues of people using it as a makeshift pedestrian bridge.

I would imagine that longtime residents of the city must be smiling to see the sight of train tracks back on the Lebreton Flats, after nearly 50 years absent. This section of the city has been dormant for so long and is now set to reclaim some of its rail heritage, which will in turn bring so much more life back to this longtime wasteland west of downtown. When you think of the new Senators arena, the new main branch of the public library and other projects taking shape in this area, you begin to understand how the ridership for the O-Train will develop.

The history of Walkley Yard

This post is the third in a rail history series I intend to extend through 2017 as we celebrate Canada's 150th birthday. Click the links to read the first and second rail history posts.

Here's an anniversary to consider this year. Sixty-two years ago, Walkley Yard was constructed,  a significant component to the changing face of Ottawa. The impact of this rail yard is not to be underestimated. Even though it's a shadow of what it once was, the rail yard played a key role in the transformation of the Ottawa that we now take for granted.

Walkley Yard today, as seen from the Bank Street overpass. The rail yard is quieter than it once was, but it still sees activity most mornings. This shot shows from maintenance of way happening earlier in April.

Let's take a brief tour of the yard today, to give you an idea of what can be found in the yard now.

While most people in the city likely don't pay this yard any mind, there was a time when it was big news. That was because by the early 1950s, politicians of all stripes were finally ready to remake the face of Ottawa, which at the time was an anomaly of a capital city. Within much of the city's older sections, rails were extremely prominent along with heavy industry. Many photos of Ottawa from the late 1940s and early 1950s illustrate this. Many felt that a capital city should not look like Ottawa did in the 1950s.

Of course, today, much of this heavy industrial imprint is long gone, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was still very much scattered through old Ottawa. Politicians were finally able to agree that something had to be done. It's important to note that plans to remove rail and heavy industry from the core of Ottawa began to gain traction in the early 1900s. However, two world wars and numerous changes in government ensured that any plan to remake the city was shelved. That changed with the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King.

The end result was the 1950 Greber Plan, which called for several radical changes to Ottawa, including the relocation of rails and heavy industry from central Ottawa. The most important element of the report for our purposes was the section calling for the relocation of rails and industry from central Ottawa, which was done.

Amazingly, this is where the Queensway now splits the Ottawa neighbourhoods of Centretown and the Glebe. This is CN's old Bank Street Yard on the former CN Renfrew Subdivision in 1948. Canada Science and Technology Museum image.

Walkley Yard began life as a necessary evil. When it was clear that politicians were finally going to plow ahead with some key elements of the Greber Plan to build an expressway through the city, the Canadian National’s Renfrew Subdivision was the ideal choice. It was an 80-foot wide right-of-way through the heart of the city, but it was already beginning to see diminished traffic. The predecessor to the National Capital Commission bought the land from CN and began acquiring additional properties to expand the right-of-way’s width to 180 feet in order to accommodate the highway.

This all took place quickly. The Greber Plan to remake Ottawa was unveiled in 1950. CN operated its final trains on the old Renfrew Subdivision in 1952 and the old right of way through Ottawa was lifted in 1953.

Before the Greber Plan began to take effect, CN had several rail yards in the core of the city, including its Bank and Elgin Street yard, which stretched from Bank Street all the way to the Rideau Canal (see above image). CN also had a rail yard along the Rideau Canal, which served the old Union Station in downtown Ottawa, and an engine roundhouse on Mann Avenue.

This undated photo from the Canada Science and Technology Museum archives only states that this is one of the earliest shots of the Walkley Yard. The heavyweight coaches, early SW switchers and numerous wooden cabooses give you an idea of the era. Note the absence of any development around the rail yard, which was then on the fringes of Ottawa.

With the rationalization of railway lines throughout Ottawa, there was a need to centralize this function and so Walkley Yard was created in a rural area south of the city.

An interesting fact about Walkley Yard. The yard is not all that close to the road for which it is named. When the yard was built, there was no development between Walkley Road and the yard, but over the last half century plus, development has surrounded the yard on all sides. A railfan coming to Ottawa for the first time would be hard pressed to find it, since it is not all that accessible, except via the end of Albion Road and via Conroy Road on its eastern fringe. Housing development surrounds the yard on its north and south sides.

A UP hopper car sits on the Rideau Bulk transloading spur in Walkley Yard. Note the proximity of housing on the yard's south side.

Another interesting fact about Walkley Yard. This is one of the few yards in Canada that can lay claim to serving four railways over its lifespan. Obviously, the yard was built by CN, although its rival Canadian Pacific did not choose to locate its operations there until 1967, when it abandoned its Ottawa West railyard at what is now known as Bayview. CN and CP shared the yard, with CN using the south tracks and CP using the north tracks. This was a year after CP and CN also left Union Station in downtown Ottawa and began to route their passenger trains through the new Central Station on Tremblay Road, just east of the downtown.

An early shot of CP's operations at Walkley Yard in 1971. Note the old maroon and red scheme on the Alco switchers. This is the north side of Walkley Yard. Canada Science and Technology Museum image.

These two railways used Walkley Yard until 1997 when CP discontinued operations in the region as its last customers across the river in Hull dried up and the Ellwood/Prescott Subdivision was discontinued. A year later, CN sold off its railway operations in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley to the Ottawa Central Railway, which operated between Pembroke and Coteau, along the Beachburg Subdivision and the Alexandria Subdivision.

Two old OCR warhorses at Walkley Yard. Photo print courtesy of Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure, although Eric was quick to point out he didn't actually take the shot. Maybe it's better to say it's from the Eric Gagnon collection?

CN reacquired the OCR and resumed operations in the region in 2008, albeit on a much smaller system.

Summer 2015 shot of Walkley Yard with cars set out for a run to Ivaco Steel in L'Orignal

The fourth railway to use Walkley Yard is the Capital Railway, otherwise known as OC Transpo’s O-Train. This yard has been used by the Capital Railway since commuter service was launched on CR’s Ellwood Subdivision in 2001. That line is publicly known as the Trillium Line. In addition to storing its Alstom diesel trainsets at Walkley overnight, CR also uses this yard as a maintenance facility.

The old and the new: The Capital Railway's new Alstom trainset sits next to an older Bombardier Talent trainset in the summer of 2013.

What's next for the yard? Well, its northern half is largely empty and the activity here is pretty sparse. It's a sad site for a railfan, but the yard has played a major role in Ottawa's railway history. For years, it hosted transcontinental freights from the Beachburg and Alexandria Subs, when they comprised part of CN's former northern transcontinental main line.

A triple header freight rests at Walkley Yard in 1972. Canada Science and Technology Museum image.

Given how CN has downsized its operations in Eastern Ontario, including the scrapping of the Beachburg Sub from Pembroke to Nepean Junction, it's likely that Walkley Yard will never again play a role as important as its role in decades past. Still, it's an important piece of Ottawa's railway history. That's something to celebrate.

Postscript: There was a conversation recently on the Eastern Ontario Rails Facebook group about the extension of Albion Road, which lines the south side of Walkley Yard. There have been questions about whether this road is in fact fair game for railfans or private property. The access road serves Rideau Bulk facilities, but signs do remind people that the yard is private property. I have used this access road in the past but am now of the opinion that this road is a private road. I no longer use it and would remind any local railfan to steer clear. Railways are very serious about security and it's not worth the trouble. Besides, there is so little happening here, it's more worthwhile to focus on more active operations.

The rails they are a changin': Summer observations in Ottawa

Work on Ottawa's commuter rail network has kicked into high gear this summer, making this perhaps the busiest time for rail construction in Ottawa in many decades. You can't go anywhere near a bus shelter without seeing signs promiting the city's Confederation Line.

 

With the taglines "There's light rail at the end of this tunnel," and "Our transit future is on track," the signs of progress are hard to miss. This ad depicts what the new light rail trainsets will look like. I think they look like insects in the cab area, but that's just me. Work on the Confederation Line is really proceeding full steam ahead in many areas. In many spots, work on the rail stations is beginning. The first ties have even been laid, although this was done for the media so it was largely ceremonial.

Recently, city councillors discussed the state of the O-Train Trillium Line, an 8-kilometre rail line that currently accommodates four Alstom Coradia LINT diesel trainsets. The line has seen eight service interruptions since launching with the new power several months ago, but the complaints have been few and far between recently.

Alstom diesel trainset crosses Walkley Diamond recently, as seen from the Bank Street overpass.

There was talk at City Hall about whether the Trillium Line should be electrified early to make the transition to the all-electrified service smoother. As it stands, the Confederation Line is due to open for service in 2018.

Also this summer, city council's finance committee approved a $3-billion second phase of the LRT system, including an extension of the Trillium Line from its southern Greenboro terminus all the way south to the Riverside South neighbourhood. The Ottawa International Airport Authority's CEO said his organization is prepared to pay for an additional light rail station that would connect the Trillium Line to the airport. The issue of who would pay for a spur line off the Trillium Line to the airport is still a question that needs to be answered, since the existing rail line through airport lands does not pass terribly close to the terminal. Overall, the fact that the city has endorsed a southern expansion is a positive move, given previous reluctance to use the old CP Prescott Subdivision right-of-way for a southern commuter rail expansion.

The second phase of the light rail system will bring the western network from Tunney's Pasture to the Bayshore Shopping Centre with a stop at Baseline Station at Algonquin College. The college unveiled its own rail tunnel, which has been built for quite a while, but has been kept under wraps until recent weeks. The tunnel will travel beneath the college's Centre for Construction Excellence.

The eastern commuter rail extension will take trains past Blair Station (Phase I terminus) all the way to Place d'Orléans Shopping Centre. The plan still doesn't address the most urgent areas of commuter need, namely Kanata in the west and vast swaths of Orleans in the east, namely the Trim Road area. Can someone please mention the existing remnants of the Beachburg Sub in North Kanata please? Or is that too logical?

Meanwhile, nothing has been said about the fate of the Prince of Wales railway bridge, although it seems a foregone conclusion that the bridge will be lost as a potential commuter rail link to Gatineau. The last remaining efforts to save this rail link are fighting an uphill battle to say the least.

O-Train C9 makes its way south to Greenboro station on the Trillium Line.

Via Rail update:

One of the consequences of the O-Train Confederation Line construction is that the bus Transitway road past Via Rail's central train station has been closed. Bus service continues to serve the Tremblay Road station through other routes, although its circular access road has been partially closed to make way for the new rail right-of-way. Access out of the station has been rerouted via nearby Pickering Place.

I recently read about renovations that are planned for Ottawa's main railway station. The upgrades will include elevated and weather protected (yes!) passenger platforms and the replacement of the canopies above the platforms and tracks. Interior renovations will be included as well as a canopy to connect the station to the O-Train station.

Say goodbye to these old canopies!

An interesting side note to the light rail connection to the Via Rail station is that the bus stop at the station, which is now known simply as "Train Station" will be changed to "Tremblay Station" when the light rail line is completed through the area. I guess people thought it might be confusing and redundant to have a light rail station called "Train."

Programming note:

Beachburg Sub  and Confessions of  Train Geek contributor Dave M. has started his own railway blog, Ottawa 589. I invite you to check it out. Also, stay tuned for a contribution from Dave that is upcoming on this blog.

Ottawa's O-Train: The good, the bad and the ugly

I was pretty excited to see Ottawa's new O-Train service in action this week on the recently dubbed Trillium Line. It didn't take long for my excitement to turn to disappointment.

This Monday, after months of testing, the city retired its fleet of Bombardier Talent light rail trains, replacing them with more efficient Alstom Coaradia LINT trains. There is much to like about the newly expanded O-Train service. There are more trainsets working on the old CP Ellwood/Prescott Subdivision. There are several passing sidings and new traffic signalling equipment, which have increased the frequency of trains to five minutes. The new trains are better for the environment.

The $60-million expansion of the service wasn't even launched this past Monday before a faulty insulated joint and controller error (OC Transpo's words) halted the new service in its tracks. This held up the official launch, much to the chagrin of numerous city officials and OC Transpo executives, who had staged several photo opportunities at O-Train stations for the morning rush. After some delay, the trains began to run, although commuters were none too pleased with the morning rush hour snafu.

New Alstom Coradia LINT train C7 heads south near Somerset Street on March 4, 2015

By the end of the first day, it was evident that the new service was not operating properly, so transit officials suspended service, telling riders to take the bus until further notice. On Tuesday, commuters were told the Trillium Line would be up and running by Thursday. Meanwhile, at the northern end of the line at Bayview Station, I noticed a brand new trainset sitting idle, being guarded by OC Transpo constables, since it was not able to return to Walkley Yard.

By any estimate, it was a terrible week for the city's light rail service, although service seemed to be returning to normal Wednesday afternoon. I ventured out on my lunch break to see what was going on and was surprised to see the service operating at five-minute intervals. This shot below is what the city wants you to see. Two O-Trains pass each other near Somerset Street, making use of the new passing sidings that were installed last summer and fall. It was fun to see this for the first time.

Here's another shot of the meet:

Of course, this latest snafu could have happened to any train service in any city. The fact that it happened in Ottawa might just be a coincidence. I tried to restrain myself earlier this week, given my vocal criticism of the city's railway policies. But, since this is a blog, I am going to let the city have it one more time. The following is my personal list of the top ten railway blunders here in the City of Ottawa in recent years. I will keep this list mainly focused on recent commuter rail decisions.

1. Allowing CP to tear up the Prescott Subdivision within city limits. This has to be the top blunder of all. This is the mistake that the city is now paying for dearly. The O-Train launched in 2001, just a few years after CP was allowed to rip up its Prescott Subdivision in 1999. Had the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (now the City of Ottawa) had any vision in 1999, it would have retained the rails and right-of-way for future commuter use. It's obvious today that the biggest demand for light rail is coming from the southern suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South. This mistake leads to blunder number two.

2. Not expanding the Trillium Line on existing trackage. The one saving grace of the local government's inaction in 1999 was that it retained trackage to the southern limits of airport land, near Leitrim Road. This will allow the city to expand the Trillium Line to the airport, if it ever gets around to committing to this long overdue expansion. Council still has not moved much on a city staff proposal to expand this line, which I find baffling. The expansion is currently undergoing an environmental assessment, but recent comments from the mayor suggest support for this expansion is no sure thing. How the city waited 14 years to seriously consider the merits of this expansion is beyond me. Anyone who wants to take public transit to Ottawa's airport knows why a rail link is desperately needed. Bus service on the two-lane Airport Parkway is simply not enough. And, if this expansion does eventually happen, the city will now have to create new rail beds and lay new tracks to Riverside South.

3. The tunnel. This blunder, in my opinion, is simply a matter of cost. I will admit that routing trains below Ottawa's core makes sense, given the old downtown would be hard pressed to accommodate trains without a good plan. However, given that Ottawa has several wide one-way streets with limited business frontage and wide berths for tracks, I have always maintained that trains on the surface can work. These one-way streets are used almost exclusively by city buses during rush hours as it is. Building a billion-dollar tunnel is simply not affordable. Many other cities operate commuter trains on roads. I have never understood why former Mayor Larry O'Brien insisted on a tunnel. Current Mayor Jim Watson vowed to look at the tunnel issue when he was elected, but he soon found himself an ardent tunnel supporter.

4. From nowhere to nowhere. The current O-Train Confederation Line plan began when former Mayor Larry O'Brien essentially scrapped his predecessor Bob Chiarelli's rail plan. Although Chiarelli's plan had major flaws, it looks downright sensible in retrospect. The biggest flaw with O'Brien's O-Train plan is that the first phase of the service begins and ends in areas of the city that are not terribly close to neighbourhoods. These areas, Tunney's Pasture and Blair, are well served by the city's Transitway rapid bus service. We all remember the bridge to nowhere in Alaska. I fear this will be train to nowhere. This will be rectified when the second phase of the Confederation Line is in place, but are commuters going to jump on board with Phase I? I wonder.

5. Dropping the ball on the Prince of Wales Bridge. Ottawa city buses go to Gatineau every day. Gatineau buses cross the river to Ottawa every day. Why has no one ever bothered to look into extending the O-Train over the Prince of Wales Bridge on existing trackage? The city owns the bridge and tracks and yet seems determined to convert the bridge into a recreational pathway.

6. Bob Chiarelli's proposed abandonment of the Trillium Line. At one point, the former mayor was proposing to tear up the current alignment of the Trillium Line and replace it with an all-new north-south alignment. Considering the land expropriations, environmental assessments and enormous costs involved, this thankfully never came to pass.

7. Building a new O-Train service facility in the middle of nowhere. This was another strange component of Bob Chiarelli's plans at one point. Instead of establishing a maintenance and commuter train yard in Ottawa's half empty Walkley Yard, there was a plan to build a completely new O-Train yard and servicing facility along Bowesville Road in the south end of the city near airport lands. Environmentalists were furious with this part of the plan, since the proposed new yard would be plopped down in the middle of a natural area. This idea, thankfully, has never attracted much support.

8. Deafening silence on Mike Maguire's common sense plan. Mayoral candidate Mike Maguire had a radical idea in the fall election. Why not establish commuter rail on existing trackage in the city? The most common objection to this plan was that the city had already gone too far with its own plans to press the reset button. I think the merits of Maguire's idea were lost amid the noise and fear-mongering during the election campaign. I still wonder why no one ever suggested that the two ideas could co-exist. After all, CN still has some vital - and sparsely used - trackage in the city that travels through densely populated areas.

9. Inaction on the Beachburg Subdivision. Any hopes for regional rail to Renfrew County, Pembroke and Petawawa went out the window when the city essentially washed its hands of this rail line. CN tore up much of the right-of-way this past fall. A small part of this subdivision is still in place to north Kanata, where it could be used as a commuter link. But that will not likely happen. The city simply does not see the value of commuter rail on this line. I understand why there would be no interest in retaining this line outside of Kanata, but using the rail to the north end of this suburb still makes sense.

10. Deafening silence on Carling Avenue plan. I was no fan of  former councillor Clive Doucet, but when he ran for mayor, he had an idea for light rail that had some merit. He suggested running trains down the middle of Carling Avenue, a divided six-lane thoroughfare through much of Ottawa's west end. His plan was short on details, but he correctly pointed out that the road passed through a number of densely populated areas, including numerous rental communities. Sadly, there was no consideration for this idea. And now, the city is haggling with the National Capital Commission over where to place part of the second phase of its western LRT line, since the NCC won't let tracks cross over its precious Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway lands.

This was an exhausting post to write. I can't believe how much fodder this city gives rail critics like me. This is the city that keeps on giving.

Oh, and Happy Trails to the Bombardier Talents! They served the city well from 2001 to 2015. Sharp looking trains. I will miss them on the current Trillium Line. I'm glad the city is keeping them and I hope to see them in use again.

Revisiting a tragedy

The Transportation Safety Board released some of its findings regarding the tragic bus-train collision in Ottawa last year. The initial findings show that the crash was likely caused, in part, by distracted driving. To briefly recap what happened, last Sept. 18, an OC Transpo double-decker bus collided with a Via train during the morning rush hour, killing five passengers as well as the bus's driver. The collision has led to a year of questions about the safety of level rail crossings in Ottawa. This accident occurred in the Barrhaven neighbourhood at the Woodroffe Avenue crossing. Via Rail's Smiths Falls Subdivision passes through this neighbourhood and has been the site of numerous signal malfunctions in the recent past. Thankfully, those issues appear to have been addressed.

A Via Rail corridor train crosses Woodroffe Avenue, as seen from the platform of Via Rail's Fallowfield railway station in May 2012.

The TSB found that the bus was approaching the crossing at 67 km/h along the bus-only Transitway lane. The posted limit for buses at the time was 60 km/h. That has since been reduced to 50km/h. The board also found that the driver was likely looking at a monitor above his sun visor at the time, which may have distracted him from braking the bus. These double-decker buses are equipped with a monitor screen that allows the driver to see what is happening on the second level of the bus. Witnesses say someone was standing on the second level, which is not allowed on these buses.

These findings are heartbreaking for several reasons. Although they have given grieving families some answers, they also shine a light on the driver's error, which will no doubt haunt his family for some time. Also, the findings pointed out that, if the bus had been travelling at the posted limit at the time, the driver would have been able to stop the bus before colliding with the Via train. Again, these findings would be tough to hear, given that they lead to a number of what if questions.

OC Transpo has posted its special constables in the area to enforce the new speed limit.

Good news for the Renfrew Spur?

A planning committee meeting this week shed some light on what might happen to the Renfrew Spur, in Ottawa's west end. The meeting was focused on a retail development in Kanata along the Renfrew Spur. The committee discussed a proposed 15-metre buffer between the development and the rail line.

The line, formerly the CN Renfrew Subdivision, serves the Nylene Canada industrial polymer plant in Arnprior, just outside Ottawa's western border. The rail line is owned by the city and maintained by Nylene Canada.

I found an interesting line in an Ottawa Sun story, which has me wondering if there may actually be a forward-thinking rail advocate in this region. The sentence in the story, which greatly interested me, reads as follows:

"Nylene is interested in possibly expanding the use of the track since lines connecting to the larger rail network are so rare west of Ottawa."

More like nonexistent, but I digress.

The story is behind a paywall, so I won't link to it, although you can find the story doing a Google search by typing in Nylene and railway. To be honest, I'm not sure what the reporter meant to convey by saying "expanding the use of the track." There is very little in the way of industry along this line, especially west of Kanata.

At the very least, it suggests to me that this rail line appears to safe for now. Now, all I have to do is catch Local 589 out to Arnprior on a Wednesday.

 

Above: The Renfrew Spur (seen at left in the spring this year) appears to be in good hands.

 

Finally, I thought I would share another piece of interesting local rail news. A mayoral candidate, Mike Maguire, has proposed something The Beachburg Sub has been advocating since the beginning. Instead of spending billions on a deeply flawed light rail plan, Maguire is proposing something radical. Running commuter trains on existing (and underused) rails in the capital. Do you think Mr. Maguire read last week's post?

 



Updated: More trouble for Via in Barrhaven

Update: The following is a recap of the media's description of an incident at a Via Rail level crossing in Barrhaven from the Ottawa Citizen and CFRA.com. Please note the comment below the story from Via Rail's former COO John Marginson, which sheds a very different light on the incident compared to what was reported in the media. I'll leave it to you, the reader, to decide what to make of the official Via explanation and the media's account, both of which seem credible. - Michael

Via Rail has a target on its back in Barrhaven these days, and many in the city would say rightly so. The railway's ongoing issues with its level crossings in the suburb continue to tarnish the company's image in Ottawa's southwest neighbourhood. On May 29th, a local resident reported that the signals and crossing gates at the Fallowfield Road level crossing failed to activate when a Via train approached. The resident alerted media, explaining that Via crews were flagging down traffic as the train passed through.

Via Rail Train 643, bound for Toronto, approaches the McKenna Casey Drive crossing just outside Barrhaven on a sunny June 1st morning.

The report of this latest malfunction comes at a time when the railway is working hard to get out from underneath this problem. Despite a number of corrective measures taken, some of its problems seem to persist. You will recall from an earlier post, Via's Barrhaven Problem, that the railway's problems started with last fall's tragic train-bus collision at the Woodroffe Avenue crossing near Fallowfield Station.

Since that time, the company has taken a number of steps as it attempts to fix its list of problems, which have been blamed on road salt and electrical interference from nearby wires among a list of other factors. The railway recently appointed its former COO, John Marginson, to lead local efforts to fix these problems.

Since the report of the latest malfunction, all has been relatively quiet through Barrhaven, although the animosity lingers and likely will for some time.

Via Train 643 gears up as it crosses McKenna Casey Drive on June 1st. 

 

Since Via's leadership change and the appointment of John Marginson, the situation has improved, especially with the company's relationship with the city. However, when residents hear that crossing equipment failed because a train was moving too slowly through the crossing, as was the explanation in several media reports this time, the collective patience in Barrhaven seems to be wearing thin.

 

From the Ottawa Citizen, May 29th:

 

"Via tweeted saying the mishap occurred because the train was moving too slowly through the automatic warning device zone."

 

This line hosts both faster passenger trains and the occasional slow-moving freight trains. A train moving too slow through a crossing? That seems like a weak explanation to me. But, as I have mentioned before, I am not a technical expert, so I will reserve further comment.

 

Most here believe that the time has long since past to straighten out this mess. We have seen significant progress of late, which has raised expectations that these problems will soon be solved. One can only hope.



Via's Fallowfield Problem

The long shadow of last September's horrific train-bus collision continues to pose a huge problem for Via Rail in Ottawa. While there is still very little to explain how this collision on Woodroffe Avenue occurred, Via continues to struggle to explain why a number of level crossings in the Barrhaven neighbourhood continue to malfunction.

Five people on board an OC Transpo double-decker bus died in the September accident, including the bus's driver. No one on the train was seriously hurt.

For Via Rail, that accident was the beginning of a very serious problem in Ottawa's southwest end. The main problem the railway faces is that there are multiple crossings in this suburb that continue to malfunction, resulting in the crossing signals and gates kicking into failsafe mode, which means the lights and bells are triggered while the gates descend, even when no train is coming. The problem spots include Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road, the two level crossings on either side of Via's Fallowfield Station.

Recently, Via issued a statement that assured residents that the warning signals at four of the level crossings had been fixed. Unfortunately, the lights at the Fallowfield Road level crossing malfunctioned April 28, shortly after Via issued its statement.

Meanwhile, the railway continues to deploy personnel at the Woodroffe Avenue crossing and have reduced the speed of trains near this crossing.

An F40PH-2 leads a Via corridor train over the Woodroffe Avenue crossing on Victoria Day 2012 on its way to the Fallowfield Via Station. Photo was taken from the Fallowfield Station platform.

 

Making matters worse, a fair bit of misinformation has not reassured Barrhaven residents. There was speculation that there was sabotage happening at these level crossings, which had the Ottawa Police involved. The railway has since made it clear that this was not the case.

 

However, the railway has also suggested that the faulty equipment might be the result of the salt used to keep the right-of-way clear as well as the salt used to clear roads. Another suggestion made was that some nearby electrical wires are interfering with the crossing signals.

 

Most recently, Via issued a statement stating that two OC Transpo buses failed to stop behind the crossing gates, meaning they stopped for a passing train beneath the descending gates, which caused the gates to be damaged and again triggered the problems with the crossing signals reverting to failsafe mode. That theory was shot down by eyewitness accounts that suggested otherwise. When this theory was refuted, the city asked Via to retract its comments. And last week, the MP for the area, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, called for Via's CEO Steve Del Bosco to resign. And that is just what the Minister received as Via made the change in early May.

 

In the midst of all this confusion and finger-pointing, no definitive cause for these problems has been identified yet. The railway and RailTerm, the company that maintains the Smiths Falls Subdivision for Via, suggested a number of factors are affecting these signals. To make things more confusing, the cause of the malfunction at one crossing isn't necessarily the cause of the malfunction at another crossing, according to Via. These issues have been plaguing this corridor since February.

 

Read about Via's technical briefing with city officials here. Reading this story, you will get a good idea of how uninformed many in this city are about railways, which is understandable since much of the remaining rail network in the city is out of site and out of mind for most. But, for a columnist with the Ottawa Citizen to suggest that Barrhaven has the highest concentration of level crossings in Canada is downright silly.

 

Via has also posted material on its website explaining what it is doing to correct the problems in Ottawa.

 

Here's a small sketch (above) of the track around Fallowfield Station. As you can see, the track crosses many of the roads in Barrhaven at an angle, making the crossings somewhat awkward, especially during rush hour. Marker 1 is site of accident on Woodroffe Avenue. You can see the the thin grey line merging onto Woodroffe. That is the OC Transpo Transitway where the bus collided with the train in September. A separate signal is now being installed for this bus lane. Marker 2 is the Fallowfield Road level crossing. There is a similar crossing at Greenbank Road, Jockvale Road, Cedarview Road, and Moodie Drive, although the crossings get less busy as you head west.

Above: Via corridor train makes its way into Fallowfield Station at 11 p.m. on April 27.

I noticed an increased presence at the station when I picked up a friend who was visiting from Toronto recently. I also noticed that the personnel were watching me take photos. So clearly the railway is keeping a close eye on its assets in the area.

Train 657 makes its way southwest toward Toronto near the Moodie Drive crossing on August 25, 2013.

So, for the time being, it appears Via is apparently close to correcting the problems at most of its crossings, although much remains to be done. Given what happened last year and what's at stake, answers can't come soon enough.