OC Transpo still has no ‘firm date’ for LRT Line 2 launch

Officials at OC Transpo are tempering expectations over when the next phase of Ottawa’s light rail system will be ready.

It’s long been expected the North-South Trillium Line will open at some point this year, a year behind schedule.

The General Manager of OC Transpo, Renee Amilcar, explains they need to hit a specific trigger before they can provide a firm date for when the system might be up and running.

“We need to be able to run trains from Bayview to Limebank, and this trigger, we should be very, very close in August.”

At a meeting of the Light Rail Sub-Committee on Monday, June 19, she explained this would allow them to come back to their September meeting with a firm date.

In attempting to avoid a repeat of what happened with Stage 1, officials are being more careful, and insisting the trains will only be operating once they are ready.

There is also confirmation parallel bus service next to Line 2 will continue to operate until April 2024.

As for the work left to do, there is still some track left to be laid.

“That final little segment, there’s a few hundred meters of track at Hunt Club Road that needs to be completed,” explained Michael Morgan, the city’s director of rail construction.

“We saw recently a train go to the Airport station, which was very exciting, we saw a train go to Limebank station, so to complete the trifecta, we need to get that train to Bayview, Morgan said. “It’s not just that train to Bayview, it’s a set of trains to Bayview where we can then hand over to training and say now the system is mature enough to start running trains back and forth, build up the training hours, and demonstrate over August and September the reliability of the system.”