The Ottawa Train Station is turning 50 years old, and VIA Rail is celebrating with a makeover.
The train station, which moved to Tremblay Road in 1966 from its original location across from the Chateau Laurier, will receive extensive renovation and upgrades, as well as more departures and arrivals to improve travel between Ottawa and Toronto.
The station will also soon be linked up with the city’s new Confederation LRT line and the entire downtown area via the new O-Train Tremblay Station, currently under construction.
VIA stated in a press release that the $20 million renovation project — ongoing throughout the next few years — includes a heated outdoor train platform, new elevators to improve accessibility for those with disabilities, a series of electrical improvements, and upgrades to the washrooms, ticket booths, and business lounge, among other changes. The renovations are being planned so as not to disrupt the building’s awarded architecture — the exterior features crossed steel trusses and bold, white lettering, while the interior includes large spiral staircases, reminiscent of snail shells.
“Once the renovations are complete, our facilities will be more accessible and mobility within the station as well as boarding and disembarking from our trains will be easier for everyone,” said VIA Rail President Yves Desjardins-Siciliano.
In 2018, OC Transpo is scheduled to launch its new east-west O-Train Confederation Line, including Tremblay Station. Fitting in seamlessly with the Ottawa Train Station’s unique exterior, Tremblay Station is getting a different look than the average red O-Train Trillium platform; Tremblay will be a grey-and-white paragon of modern architecture, with an artsy, slanted steel roof.
Railways have historically been the backbone linking together Canada’s vast expanses of land, and Ottawa’s is no different.
David Jeanes, past president of the Historical Society of Ottawa, recounts a long and rich history. In 1895, Ottawa lumber baron J.R. Booth initiated the building of Ottawa’s own central train station, to be located on Rideau Street. The station was finished in 1912 by Grand Trunk Railway, as part of an early Ottawa mega-project that also saw the construction of the Chateau Laurier.
Tragically, just before the planned unveiling of the station in 1912, railway president Charles Melville Hays drowned in the sinking of the Titanic.
By the 1920s, the downtown station became “Union Station”, the central transport hub for Ottawa, but in 1950 plans were made to move it to the suburbs.
“Canadian National [railway] fought this idea tooth and nail,” says Jeanes.
The federal government backed the National Capital Commission’s plan to remove what were considered unsightly rail tracks from downtown Ottawa. Following advice from French landscape architect Jacques Gréber, the NCC unveiled the Modernist station in time for Canada’s Centennial celebrations and the Montreal Expo in 1967.
“Ottawa Station was built at a time when the focus was on airports, and even the architects thought that it would probably be the last big new station to be built in North America,” says Jeanes. “They took their inspiration from grand European railway stations and from the design of steel trusses for railway bridges.”
Second-year Carleton University student Seamus Hodgins — who often travels by train back home to Barrie — says that he thinks the proposed renovations to the Ottawa Train Station will be great for commuting students like him. He’s especially excited for the new elevators.
“The staircase and the escalator are really frustrating, because you have a massive suitcase and there’s no space; there’s a million other students with backpacks and suitcases trying to do the same thing. It becomes a brawl.”
“I just wish they were adding a Tim Hortons, too.”