Line 1 (), formerly known as the Confederation Line (), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, part of the city's O-Train system. It opened on September 14, 2019, and is O-Train's second line. It operates on an east–west route, with a segment under Queen Street in the downtown core, complementing the north–south Line 2 that operates to the west of the downtown core.
The project was unanimously approved by the Ottawa City Council on December 19, 2012, with the contract being awarded to Rideau Transit Group.Minutes 47, pp. 3, 9: "the selection of Rideau Transit Group as the Preferred Proponent to design, build, finance and maintain the OLRT project", 16: "with the Rideau Transit Group" Construction began in 2013, as originally scheduled. At a cost of ,Minutes 47, pp. 3, 10: "The $2.130B OLRT project budget and funding sources as outlined in this report". Reproduced from: the first stage of the line was the largest infrastructure project awarded in the history of the city before being surpassed by the Stage 2 extension of the line, which was projected to cost $4.66billion.Schepers (December 4, 2012), p.6
History
Having had several plans for a metro system already for decades, in 1976 it was decided to start developing a project called Transitway, a bus rapid transit system. The Transitway was intended as a temporary solution in anticipation for urban rail and the first section eventually opened in 1983. As passengers numbers were rising, the decision was made to upgrade parts of the bus system to rail transport.
The Confederation Line rail project was approved unanimously by the city council on December 19, 2012, after many years of debate on a rapid transit network for the city. It represented the initial phase of the network and was awarded as a 30-year design–build–finance–maintain agreement to the Rideau Transit Group. The rolling stock chosen were Alstom Citadis Spirit light rail vehicles.
On February 21, 2014, an , sinkhole opened above the LRT tunnel excavation site at Waller Street south of Laurier Avenue, interrupting electricity, water, sanitation, and storm services in the area, and forced the rerouting of traffic and a temporary halt to LRT tunnelling. Though the cause of the sinkhole was not confirmed, the deputy city manager, Nancy Schepers, said that "monitoring equipment has confirmed that the impact is localized, and the geotechnical team has not identified any safety concerns at this point".
On June 8, 2016, another sinkhole opened, in the middle of Rideau Street near its intersection with Sussex Drive, above the LRT tunnel construction, swallowing three lanes of the street and a parked van. The collapse forced evacuation of the Rideau Centre and the closing of a number of local streets and businesses; no one was injured or killed, but the nearly completed tunnel was flooded, submerging a roadheader. Repairs were completed, and the City of Ottawa was cleared of any wrong-doing.
Testing of the line's rolling stock began in late 2016, and was planned to continue through most of the following year before the line was expected to achieve revenue service availability on May 24, 2018, followed by testing, acceptance, and opening of the line to the public. When the May 2018 deadline could not be achieved, it was announced the line would open to the public in November 2018. In September 2018, it was announced that the line would not open in November 2018 and would instead open in early 2019. In March 2019, this was pushed back to sometime between April and June 2019. In May 2019, the opening of the line was again delayed, until the third quarter of 2019, due to concerns about train operations. Rideau Transit Group failed to complete testing and hand over the system by the revised deadline of August 16, 2019, the fourth time RTG had not met a deadline it had revised with the city. OC Transpo announced on August 23, 2019, that the testing had been completed by RTG and the Confederation Line would open to the public on September 14, 2019.
On March 10, 2020, Ottawa City Council issued a notice of default to RTG, listing the flaws and problems with the line and its operation. Among the cited issues were a shortage of trains during rush hour, a maintenance facility fire, inadequate heating of train operator cars, and vehicle parts coming loose, the latter causing damage to transponders.
On November 30, 2022, a public inquiry led by Justice William Hourigan issued a report criticizing both city politicians as well as the Rideau Transit Group consortium for problems in building and implementing the Confederation Line. Hourigan found that project deadlines were unrealistic with unachievable dates, and that information about testing problems was disclosed neither to city council (other than to then-mayor Jim Watson) nor to the public. Hourigan also made 103 recommendations to fix problems, including a recommendation that the province investigate how to develop skills and capabilities to deliver large municipal projects.
Route and stations
Route Line 1 runs from Tunney's Pasture station in the west to Blair station in the east, a distance of including a tunnel running under Queen Street in the central business district, including under the Rideau Canal. The line connects to the existing Transitway at both ends, and to the O-Train Line 2 at Bayview station.
While commonly and officially referred to by OC Transpo as an "electric light-rail service", Line 1 has been described as a "light metro" by some transit experts due to being completely grade-separated and utilizing SelTrac, a communications-based train control technology utilized by many rapid transit systems worldwide. With complete grade separation, travel time from one end to another is less than 25 minutes. Train frequency is every 5 minutes or better during peak hours and every 15 minutes or better after 11pm (except Sunday). The hours of operation for Line 1 are: Monday to Thursday: 5am to 1am Friday: 5am to 2am Saturday: 6am to 2am Sunday: 8am to 11pm
Stations
There are 13 stations in Stage 1 of the project. The three underground stations downtown have platforms; the remainder are with provisions for future expansion.
All stations display an illuminated red "O" at the entrance. Every station has fare vending machines selling Presto cards, single-ride tickets, day passes, family passes and multi-day passes; vending machines accept cash, debit cards and credit cards. Stations have an information phone as well as emergency phones for those requiring assistance; vending machines also provide a video chat feature. Access through the fare gates to station platforms is via Presto card, U-Pass, STO Multi card, barcoded ticket, barcoded bus transfer, mobile wallet, or bank card. All 13 Stage 1 stations have elevators, and nine have escalators. Station stairways have a channel for passengers to push a bicycle. Four of the 13 stations have public washrooms.
The four major transfer stations—Blair, , Bayview, and Tunney's Pasture—have a fare-paid area so that passengers transferring between bus and O-Train, or between lines 1 and 2, do not need to go through fare gates. , , and stations do not have nearby connecting buses. is the major hub for STO (Société de transport de l'Outaouais) buses connecting with OC Transpo services.
StationNotesLocated on the north side of Ottawa Road 174. Connects with the East Transitway to Orleans. Serves the Gloucester City Centre shopping complex. Transitway station demolished and rebuilt to handle LRT in 2015. Serves the Ottawa CANEX (for military personnel and families).Integrates with the St. Laurent Shopping Centre and connects to east end bus routesConnects with Via Rail inter-regional services at Ottawa station. A pedestrian bridge connects to Ottawa Stadium north of the Queensway. Connects to the Southeast Transitway to south OttawaServes existing high-density residential buildings and the University of Ottawa Lees Campus.Serves the University of Ottawa and the Sandy Hill district. Replaces the previous Campus station.Located under Rideau Street and integrated with the Rideau Centre. Replaces the existing Mackenzie King station and is a major transfer station, providing transfers between Line 1 and the city's urban bus routes to the east (Montreal Road) and south (Bank Street). Serves the ByWard Market and Lower Town districts.Located under Queen Street, replacing the and stations. Connects to the Sun Life Centre and Heritage Place. Serves the northeast area of downtown, including Parliament Hill.Located under Queen Street, replacing the and stations. Integrated with Place de Ville's underground concourse and a future Claridge residential development. Serves the northwest area of downtownLocated in LeBreton Flats under the Booth Street bridge. Connects with Gatineau buses. Serves the Chinatown district, and is a short walk from Little Italy.Connects with the north–south Line 2 to south Ottawa. Serves the east end of the Hintonburg district and the west end of Chinatown.Connects with the West Transitway towards Barrhaven and Kanata. Serves the Wellington Street West district, including the western part of Hintonburg, and the Tunney's Pasture federal government complex.
Design issues Station design concerns have been raised; shortcomings identified include steps that are slippery when wet, which have resulted in passenger injuries.
Future stations