Trillium Line opening date slips toward summer 2024, Ottawa transit commission told
The Trillium Line consists of Line 2 from Bayview to Limebank stations and Line 4 from South Keys to the Ottawa airport.
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Ottawa is hoping to take control of its north-south Trillium Line LRT in June 2024, a little later than the April date Transit General Manager Renée Amilcar offered in September when pressed by city councillors on the transit commission, but still “spring,” she noted Thursday.
“When we give a date, it’s if everything is OK. But it’s not the case, unfortunately, and of course was have to go with those,” Amilcar told reporters after Thursday’s transit commission meeting. “Spring is still our best guess.”
The city’s director of rail construction, Michael Morgan, gave councillors an overview of progress on the Trillium Line and the eastward and westward extension of the Confederation Line. The Trillium line will use a fleet of Alstom and Stadler diesel trains, which have already begun testing runs on the track, Morgan said.
The first of four classes of drivers have completed training, and a second class is about to begin, he said.
A graphic of the timeline of work activity Morgan presented showed additional operator and maintenance training running until March and trial runs between February and April, with trial operations leading to full passenger service between March and June.
The Trillium Line consists of Line 2 from Bayview to Limebank stations and Line 4 from South Keys to the Ottawa airport. The original contract called for it to be ready in the summer of 2022, while last winter OC Transpo said the hope was to have it ready for service for the 2023-24 school year.
Meanwhile, the completion date for the eastward extension of the Confederation Line to Trim Road has slipped another 60 days. The first test trains are expected to roll on the eastward line around the end of January 2024, with full revenue service on track for late spring 2025, Morgan said.
The westward extension to Algonquin College and Moodie Drive isn’t expected to be complete until late 2026.
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