The train is coming: LRT stations taking shape as Belfast berm removed

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Ottawa’s LRT builder has nearly reached the half-way mark of its busiest year of construction.

Work by the Rideau Transit Group is underway at all 13 Confederation LRT Line stations and the 12.5-kilometre rail line that connects them.

Close to nine kilometres of track in either direction has either been laid or is in the process of being laid along the mainline and more than one-third of the overhead wires used to power the trains have been installed. Thirteen Alstom Citadis light rail vehicles are fully assembled (of the total 34).

Excavating the 2.5-kilometre tunnel downtown was completed in February, but the focus now is on finishing the concrete lining work and laying tracks.

“The schedule would have had the tunnel done a long time ago but obviously with the sinkhole that’s put things back,” said Steve Cripps, director of O-Train Construction, referring to last year’s sinkhole on Rideau Street that threw a wrench into the plans.

Test trains are currently using a stretch of track between Blair and St. Laurent stations in the east end.

Testing generally occurs in the evening to avoid affecting the ongoing station construction. After 6 p.m. is the best time to try and see the LRT vehicles in action.

The testing area will eventually extend all the way to the tunnel entrance near the University of Ottawa, while workers finish the tunnel. By the time classes start in September, Cripps said, residents will see “quite a few vehicles out.”

Trains will begin to be tested in the tunnel later this year or early next.

Ready for Kontinuum

RTG handed over Lyon station this week to Ottawa 2017 so crews could begin installing equipment for the sound and light show, set to animate the underground station all summer long.

Construction isn’t finished, but work there is far enough along that the station can be temporarily transformed from construction site to immersive multimedia experience.

On the upper concourse level, concrete columns are in place and the installation of ceramic tile has begun. Down at track level, a visitor could look across the tracks to the other platform, just as they would at any other metro station.

“The bones are there,” Cripps said.

Once Kontinuum ends, RTG will return to complete the station.

Cripps said he’s thrilled there’s going to be a sound and light show in the underground tunnel at Lyon station as part of Ottawa 2017 celebrations.

It marks the first chance people will get to actually go inside an LRT station.

When Cripps arrived in Ottawa three years ago, construction on the Confederation Line had been underway for about a year, but most people he talked to then weren’t aware of it.

“Now, there’s no doubt people know about it,” he said. “The fact that people can get into the station will just bring this thing to life.”

State of the stations

Construction of the four east-end stations — Blair, Cyrville, St. Laurent and Tremblay — are well ahead of the rest. The current workload includes everything from installing light fixtures and elevators to landscaping and final platform finishes.

At Hurdman, framing and structural steel installation continues, and the new bus operator building is almost ready for the handover to OC Transpo. Lees and uOttawa stations are also taking shape.

Work at Lyon and Parliament stations is well ahead of Rideau, where there’s a “fair bit of work to do,” said Cripps.

“It doesn’t really look like a station at all yet, it’s still looks just like a huge cavern.”

In the west end, Pimisi, Bayview and Tunney’s Pasture are coming along. Tracks are now visible on the north side of Scott Street between Bayview and Tunney’s.

The installation of public art in most of the stations is set to begin this fall.

Berm bummer

Crews have begun to tear out the 450-metre berm built to shield the Eastway Gardens neighbourhood from the noise of the LRT’s sprawling maintenance and storage facility on Belfast Road. It is to be replaced with a wall as part of a $100-million expansion of the facility.

Removing the berm will make room for new maintenance bays and an expanded vehicle storage shed. RTG intends to continue assembling vehicles and complete most of the Belfast expansion before the Confederation Line opens next year and the yard begins normal daily operations.

About four dozen trees planted on the berm are being transplanted to nearby Cecil Morrison Park.

Eastway Gardens residents left a public meeting last month with scant new details about the wall that’s to be built later this year, leaving many in the audience of several dozen frustrated.

A follow-up meeting is expected sometime later this month to provide information about the wall’s height, colour and ability to quell noise.

Tidying up for Canada Day

RTG will shut down its operations on Rideau and Queen streets a few days before July 1 so the city can clean up the streets and make sure they both look pretty for Canada’s big day. Officials have said they are expecting half a million revellers in Ottawa — 150,000 more than on an average year.

“Even though there’s work going on on both of those streets, our goal is to get them looking as good as they can,” Cripps said.

mpearson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/mpearson78

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