Ottawa station
Ottawa station, or Ottawa Train Station, is the main inter-city train station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada operated by Via Rail. It is located 4 km to the east of downtown Ottawa in the Eastway Gardens neighbourhood and serves inter-city trains connecting to Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Quebec City on Via Rail's Corridor Route.
Location
Ottawa station is located at 200 Tremblay Road, which lies directly south of Ontario Highway 417 near Exit 117 and east of Riverside Drive in an industrial park area. Its main entrance faces north to Tremblay Road.South of the station building, trains call at 1 standard-level side platform and 3 low-level island platforms on 5 tracks. The platforms are connected to the main building by an underground walkway that is accessed by a circular ramp or elevator and escalators. The tracks are bordered on the south by Terminal Avenue.
Northeast of the station main entrance and past Tremblay Station is the Max Keeping Pedestrian Bridge, which crosses Highway 417. It allows access to RCGT Park, a minor-league baseball stadium, as well as the Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa East and Hampton Inn by Hilton Ottawa west of the stadium parking lot. These two hotels are the closest to the station, and are linked to each other by the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre. All of these are accessible within a 12-15 minute walk.
The station is also within the vicinity of a number of big box stores, including the Ottawa Train Yards shopping complex south of Terminal Avenue. An office complex of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is also located to the north east of the station, across the highway cloverleaf and next to the Rideau River.
Railway services
As of July 2020, Ottawa station is served by 2 domestic routes. All are provided by Via Rail, the primary passenger rail operator in Canada. Departures have been reduced to 4 trains per day due to the coronavirus pandemic.Ottawa - Québec City
- No local service between Québec City, Sainte-Foy and Charny, or Saint-Lambert and Montréal.
Ottawa - Toronto
- No local service between Ottawa and Fallowfield, or Guildwood and Toronto.
Structure
Inside, an expansive waiting area features a circular ticket office and a descending circular ramp leading to the far platforms.
History
The present Ottawa station east of downtown and the Rideau River is the outcome of an urban renewal plan by the French urban planner Jacques Greber. The plan was commissioned by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who sought a re-imagining of the city following World War II. Among the proposals in Greber's city plan was the relocation of railway tracks outside of the downtown core. At that time, many trains were still pulled by steam locomotives which brought their noise and soot to the downtown Union Station and rail yard. In addition, the trains running through Ottawa were not grade separated, meaning there were perhaps 100 level crossings impeding car and pedestrian traffic. Greber sought to clean up the downtown by relocating rail traffic outside of the city center. This would require the construction of a new train station.The new Ottawa station was built for passenger services of the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway companies, and was the last of the monumental union stations to be built in Canada. It was seen as an attempt to project a modern and futuristic image of rail travel in an era when it was being increasingly superseded by other means of transportation. The station was designed by the modernist architect John Cresswell Parkin of John B. Parkin & Associates in collaboration with the Montreal firm Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud & Sise and was completed in August 1966, just a few months prior to the start of Canadian Centennial celebrations. Their design reflects a mix of modernism and Beaux Arts planning principles. It won a Massey Medal for architecture in 1967. In 2000, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada named the station as one of the top 500 buildings produced in Canada during the last millennium.
Ottawa's trains once came into the large downtown Union Station, a short distance from the Parliament buildings and south of the Château Laurier Hotel. However, in 1966 the railway tracks beside the Rideau Canal were replaced by the National Capital Commission’s Colonel By Drive scenic parkway as part of the Greber Plan. Initially the former station was converted into a Government Conference Centre before becoming a new temporary home for the Senate of Canada in 2019, as extensive renovations are conducted on their former location in the Centre Block building on Parliament Hill.
Per a sign located inside the station:
"The Ottawa Station was completed in 1966 as part of a plan for the relocation and consolidation of many railway lines built between 1854 and 1916. The new arrangement was based on the plans of the noted urban planner, Jacques Greber, and was constructed by the National Capital Commission. The Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific railway are owners and operators of the new installations."
The station has been protected under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act since 1996. It "is a glass and steel, International style railway station The VIA Rail Station at Ottawa is one of the finest examples of the International style in Canadian architecture."
A $21.7 million renovation project was undertaken from late 2016 to 2018. The project added an elevator to improve accessibility in the spiral ramp and at tracks 3 and 4. The station's Track 1 side platform was also raised from the previous low-level to a standard level for faster and easier boarding. Maintenance work was also conducted on the roof, and a climate controlled waiting area was built next to Track 1 for departing passengers to wait for their trains. The station management also began working to attain a LEED Silver green building certification from the Canada Green Building Council.
Station services
The station is staffed and offers ticket sales, checked baggage and checkroom service, bicycle box service, an ATM, a restaurant, vending machines, wifi, telephones and washrooms.The station is wheelchair accessible including the ticket office, washrooms and trains. Wheelchairs, an elevator and a wheelchair lift are available.
Public transit
Ottawa station connects to local OC Transpo public transportation through the adjacent Tremblay station, located northwest of the main entrance. Tremblay is a stop on the Confederation Line of Ottawa's O-Train light rail system and also serves neighbourhood bus services.Auto
A taxi stand is located outside the main entrance and a Discount Car & Truck Rentals automated kiosk is available immediately inside the main entrance doors.330 surface lot parking spaces are managed by Indigo Parking. The lot is controlled by an automated, gated system; hourly and monthly rates are available.
Bicycle access
Ottawa station is connected to the Capital Pathway bike path system. This makes it somewhat possible to travel most of the way downtown using multi-use paths, dedicated cycling lanes or less busy roads.A path just to the north of Tremblay station connects to the Rideau River Pathway, which provides a slightly longer but easier northbound/westbound route to the city core via Lower Town. Crossing the Rideau River Pedestrian/Cycling Bridge offers a shorter but more complicated westbound route via Sandy Hill, uOttawa and the Rideau Canal Eastern or Western Pathway. Either route requires a 20-30 minute ride.
The Max Keeping Pedestrian Bridge north of the station allows cycling and connects the station to the Overbrook and Vanier neighbourhoods on the other side of Highway 417. It also provides access to Coventry Road and the St. Laurent Centre to the east.
Cycle paths and lanes in Ottawa are mostly used during the more temperate months of the year, but a few are plowed in the winter as part of a winter cycling network.
OC Transpo allows bikes to be brought on board the Confederation Line at Tremblay Station and Via Rail allows them as checked luggage on some trains for an additional fee when checked up to an hour prior to departure.