Is a real Tramway (Read: Light Rail) Coming to Canada?

The question I have, will this be real light rail, operating real trams or another hybrid light metro/rail system, currently in operation in Ottawa?

In Canada, what is called light rail tends to be more light-metro, than LRT, with very expensive subways and grade separation.

Remember, Ottawa had a signed contract with Siemens to build a 27 km light rail system for Ottawa, only to be sabotaged by the Harper government. This cost the city of Ottawa, $34 million in punitive damages for breaking a signed contract and what was built instead was a much more expensive hybrid light metro/rail system which due to politcal, incompetence has come to grief several times.

I hope the good burghers in Ottawa-Gatineau get it right this time and without interference from the federal government.

Consultants picked to lead Ottawa-Gatineau tram project

Planners chose a tram over a rapid bus system because the former has up to five times the passenger capacity, and the population of Gatineau’s west end is expected to grow 50% in the next 25 years (Image courtesy of TramGO)
Planners chose a tram over a rapid bus system because the former has up to five times the passenger capacity, and the population of Gatineau’s west end is expected to grow 50% in the next 25 years (Image a Bordeaux tram courtesy of TramGO)
A joint venture led by Systra has won a US$79m technical services contract to prepare a tram system linking the Canadian capital Ottawa in the province of Ontario to the city of Gatineau directly across the Ottawa River in the province of Quebec.

The Groupe Porteur JV was appointed by the Société de transport de l’Outaouais. French infrastructure group Egis and local construction consultant EXP are the JV’s other two members.

When finished in 2035, the 24km tramline – called TramGO – will stitch together the fast-growing western districts of Gatineau with its city centre and downtown Ottawa.

It will have 37 stations and four intermodal exchanges.

Planners chose a tram over a rapid bus system because the former has up to five times the passenger capacity, and the population of Gatineau’s west end is expected to grow 50% in the next 25 years.

Working with architectural firms Richez Associés and Provencher Roy, Groupe Porteur will help the TramGO project office with technical and environmental studies, procurement, construction work supervision, and commissioning.

Egis chief commercial officer in Canada, Jean Steenhouwer, said the JV would submit a work plan in the second quarter.

Technical and environmental studies for the route on Quebec territory will also begin then.

Systra Canada’s executive vice president Samuel Derosiaux said: “Together, we are committed to offering citizens an efficient, sustainable and innovative transportation system that is perfectly integrated into the urban environment of the cities of Gatineau and Ottawa.”

Comments

6 Responses to “Is a real Tramway (Read: Light Rail) Coming to Canada?”
  1. Haveacow says:

    It won’t be completely a traditional tram but major portions will be. The main issue is will the Conservative government help out?

  2. Haveacow says:

    Oh yes, even the Siemens project was mostly a Light Metro project but using LRV technology, mainly due to the 160,000 passengers a day projected ridership.The Transitway (BRT)/LRT interchange stations planned for Bayview, Tunneys Pasture, Rideau Centre, South Keys, Walkley, Greenboro, Riverside, Marketplace and Barhaven Centre would have been major transfer stations and required large capacity interface areas.

  3. Haveacow says:

    A friend of mine has a question, How would you classify the existing Ion and Finch West LRT lines? Also the Eglinton LRT is mostly tunnel because those tunneled sections are far too narrow for surface running. The remaining surface sections are as close to a modern tram line as you can get? Large sections of Edmonton’s new LRT line are a completely surface route with very basic stations..

  4. zweisystem says:

    It is my belief, that in the 2020’s, classification of a transit line, tram, LRT, light metro, metro is not based on the vehicle used, rather the quality of route it operates on on.

    The tram is now an almost universal transit vehicle that can operate as a streetcar/tram on city streets; as light rail, on a dedicated R-o-W; light metro on a grade separated R-o-W; as metro in a subway; and as a TramTrain operating on the railway mainline.

    Thus in my book, if there is long distances of grade separated R-o-W, either on a viaduct or a tunnel, the system is a hybrid light metro/rail system, which basically means it cost more than LRT.

    Edmonton is really a German Stadtbahn, which means the trains operate on various quality of R-o-W.

    So, if one is talking about a hybrid route, one must say the light-metro section or light rail section. but the general consensus would be a hybrid route costs more to build (with subways, a lot more to build) than a stand alone LRT route.

    TramTrain has really changed my mind to my current way of thinking.

  5. Ken says:

    That green tramway would look nice beside Arbutus street on the old CPR railway. It could start at Arbutus station on Broadway and go to New Westminster through the river district. That old railway near the river is lightly used west of new Westminster. Translink doesn’t really like trains and prefers buses. They have new electric buses in south Vancouver.

  6. Haveacow says:

    You see Zwei, one of the most “crapped on” rapid transit projects in Canada, The Finch West LRT, is attacked because 95% of its right of way is physically segregated roadway median surface track. Exactly the type of right of way you want. The anti-transit crowd relentlessly attack the project as well as the surface sections of the Eglinton Crosstown (and its grasses right of way) for the same reason. It will impede drivers at intersections and because of its physically segregated surface right of way, will block easy cross road left hand turns, that drivers can currently do. You also have the crowd that says, if it’s not a tunnel or a above grade viaduct, its far too slow. Essentially, my 3 to 5 minute end to end tunnel or above grade viaduct time savings is always worth our collective multi-billion dollar cost increases, no matter what .

    Zwei replies: And you illustrate the problem very well, most people in Canada do not know what light rail is. Most confuse it with a on-street streetcar and yes, our subway brigade have spent decades saying subways are much faster, but then they compare it to a streetcar and not light rail. The subway brigade also fail to mention that at-grade operation tends to have more station/stops per route km than a subway, so of course the actual travel time is faster but they do not include the time to access a station.

    Again, it is the lack of any knowledge of light rail.

    On another note, a TransLink bureaucrat took issue with my claims that the Broadway subway is not the Millennium Line, thus has a much larger capacity than 7,500 pphpd, what Thales advertised in their 2022 News Release. This illustrates the kind of people TransLink is hiring to run the show.

    In this month’s issue of T&UT a rep. from Translink now claims (world news) that the cost of the Broadway subway is now $3 billion, yet a local newsie, was laughed at when he mentioned a $3.6 billion figure, with some folks in the know. “Will the subway be cheaper than the figure?” > More laughter.

Leave A Comment