By David Baëta
Nearly a year old, the O-Train has been so successful that city officials are hoping to bump up its service from three times an hour to four times by the end of October.
“We hope that increasing service frequency to four trains per hour will make the train more attractive to potential riders,” says Helen Gault, transit planning and development manager.
The train carries between 5,000 to 6,000 riders a day during the school year, with many riders coming from Carleton University. The O-Train connects the South Keys Shopping Plaza to the Bayview station near Lebreton Flats.
One of these 5000 riders is Aaron Duhault, a fourth year Carleton University student who takes the train ten times a week. Duhault says the seats are uncomfortable and if the train ran more frequently it would make his trips more enjoyable.
“I take the bus at the Lincoln Fields station and connect with the train at Bayview,” says Duhault. “The train saves me a half hour every time because I don’t have to go downtown at all.”
Although an OC Transpo survey says 87 per cent of train users save an average of 21 minutes per trip, the train cannot currently operate at speeds sufficiently safe to accommodate a train every 15 minutes.
Gault says there are two points where a Via Rail line and an Ottawa Central Rail line connect with the O-Train’s track. At these points the train must slow down to ensure a safe transition over the two crossing tracks and to reduce noise.
The National Research Council is now working on a device that will allow the train to run safely at normal speeds where the two upgrade crossings are located. The bulk of the research completed by the NRC stands at $60,000 so far, which includes the design of this device.
“The template will reduce the pressure on the track and smooth the transition from one line to the other,” says Gault. “This will allow to increase the train’s speed from 48 kilometres per hour at the crossing point up to about 64 kilometres per hour just like everywhere else along the line.”
By increasing its average speed, the train can consistently run the entire length of the track four times an hour.
Gault says they hope to put the device, due for completion by late September, into operation by the end of October.
Coun. Gord Hunter, a critic of the pilot project, says light rail is not entirely bad, but that running it on freight tracks is not the right way to establish whether light rail is good for Ottawa.
“The train rides through low-population areas which results in low-ridership. That’s a fruitless and expensive way to experiment with a project that could potentially work,” said Hunter. “All we have done essentially is put a very nice train on poor quality tracks.”
Ata Khan, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Carleton University, echoes Hunter’s concerns about the poor quality of the tracks.
“Because the train runs on a jointed freight line, it stops the train from providing a smooth and fast ride,” says Khan. “It would be important to rebuild the tracks to fully capitalise on the technology.”
Even with noise barriers up, Gault says the train currently makes more noise than it should. “We will put forth a recommendation to council for a continuous, welded rail, without joints.”
According to light rail manager Mario Peloquin, upgrading to welded, continuous tracks would cost about one million dollars for the entire line.
Coun. Clive Doucet, a strong supporter of the project, admits the project has its imperfections. Doucet says the main priority should be to upgrade the tracks to increase train speed and to reduce noise. However, Doucet is concerned running the train every fifteen minutes is impossible without more noise unless the tracks are upgraded.
Duhault, who missed his train, is not concerned about the noise. “I find the ride bumpy and shaky but if the service ran more frequently, I would not have to wait as long in between trains.”