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Ottawa Transit Developments

nfitz said:
Same vehicles. As far as I know, some have already arrived. There was a photo recently of one being shipped from the production facility in Brampton.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1418237939524509701
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Yeah, as far as I know they built a few of the new trains in Ottawa at Belfast Yard, and then production was moved to Brampton, which has delivered some trains as well. The new trains are supposed to be integrated into the existing fleet as they arrive.

Meanwhile the Stage 2 Trillium Line will get new larger Stadler FLIRT trains, with the existing fleet of Alstom Coradia trains being used mainly for the airport line (although they will sometimes operate in paired sets on Line 2). Those are still being built in Switzerland and haven't arrived in Ottawa yet.
 
felix123 said:
It's sad that the tweet makes it sound like a "win" that a con government is not cancelling a transit project.
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Its a bit more than that. Currently phase 3 is completely unfunded. The city of Ottawa is currently broke after Phase 2 and cannot put any local funding, requiring the entire extension to be built using federal and provinicial money. Erin O'Toole is literally the first candidate to actually propose funding the project (Justin Trudeau hasn't as of yet), so this is a case where the con government is taking the initiative on a transit project.
 
Amare said:
Why not just toss empty promises out everywhere, it's not like they have to be fulfilled right?

With the Conservative's track record, I highly doubt they are going to support HFR. They'll look at it, then reduce the frequency to the point there's just 1-2 extra train trips while calling that "high-frequency".
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A little scepticism is healthy, but this amount of it is destructive. Kanata is a major swing riding in western Ottawa, so its clear that this announcement is there to help the vote, and if it does go blue I see no reason why O'Toole would not deliver something to them that he promised. The same applies to Doug Ford actually, I would expect that if O'Toole wins and commits the funding, that Doug will jump in and pitch in some money for the extension as well in order to gain favour in the area.

As for HFR, procurement starts in a few months and at this point trying to stop it would be futile and dangerous. Even if we assume the worst of intentions from the CPC, this election is looking to be a close one so in the best case scenario for the CPC, they win a minority government and doing something like immediately slashing the HFR plans is easy bait for the LPC, NDP, and even BQ to just call a vote of non-confidence since this is a project all 3 of those parties support. There is very little wiggle room for the CPC to cancel the project even if they wanted to - especially after promising that they will do that. Finally the CPC is clearly far more supportive of transit than they used to be. O'Toole is trying to aim for the more centrist voter especially trying to get more votes in the Ontario 905 area - a location that is generally supportive of transit and so pulling a fast one on something like HFR is not something that would go over well with most voters that would vote for him.
 
ARG1 said:
A little scepticism is healthy, but this amount of it is destructive. Kanata is a major swing riding in western Ottawa, so its clear that this announcement is there to help the vote, and if it does go blue I see no reason why O'Toole would not deliver something to them that he promised. The same applies to Doug Ford actually, I would expect that if O'Toole wins and commits the funding, that Doug will jump in and pitch in some money for the extension as well in order to gain favour in the area.

As for HFR, procurement starts in a few months and at this point trying to stop it would be futile and dangerous. Even if we assume the worst of intentions from the CPC, this election is looking to be a close one so in the best case scenario for the CPC, they win a minority government and doing something like immediately slashing the HFR plans is easy bait for the LPC, NDP, and even BQ to just call a vote of non-confidence since this is a project all 3 of those parties support. There is very little wiggle room for the CPC to cancel the project even if they wanted to - especially after promising that they will do that. Finally the CPC is clearly far more supportive of transit than they used to be. O'Toole is trying to aim for the more centrist voter especially trying to get more votes in the Ontario 905 area - a location that is generally supportive of transit and so pulling a fast one on something like HFR is not something that would go over well with most voters that would vote for him.
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There's the answer in your own statement: Kanata is a major swing ridng. O'Toole will say anything to get it, and that's why he made the statement.

I will admit O'Toole doesnt seem as austere as Harper and Scheer, but the Cons have never been an advocate of VIA Rail in the past. They've always looked to hack and slash it at any overture they get, and I dont see O'Toole as being the exception. You do raise a good point though: if the Cons get elected to a minority govt, HFR has a chance of surviving as it could turn into a matter of confidence at any point in time.
 
Amare said:
There's the answer in your own statement: Kanata is a major swing ridng. O'Toole will say anything to get it, and that's why he made the statement.

I will admit O'Toole doesnt seem as austere as Harper and Scheer, but the Cons have never been an advocate of VIA Rail in the past. They've always looked to hack and slash it at any overture they get, and I dont see O'Toole as being the exception. You do raise a good point though: if the Cons get elected to a minority govt, HFR has a chance of surviving as it could turn into a matter of confidence at any point in time.
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To be fair, the Liberals have not exactly delivered big things for VIA either for most of their years in power. There were significant cuts in 1981. The best VIA got was new locomotives and second-hand rail cars (that will be replaced prematurely) and Fallowfield Station in the late Chrétien era. Paul Martin was no friend, kiboshing a second phase of improvements.

At least the latest government delivered a proper full Corridor fleet replacement and have supported HFR in recent months. I’d rather have a Liberal-led minority government that will continue that.
 
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