Third major Canadian airport to get a train to the city this year

O-Train being tested on Trillium Line's new Airport Link extension in June 2023. (OC Transpo)

If all goes as planned, Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (YOW) will be connected to the capital region’s rail rapid transit network potentially before the end of 2023.

Construction on the southern extension of O-Train Line 2, also known as the Trillium Line, is now reaching the final stages.

The major overhaul and extension of the existing O-Train route have faced construction delays. Line 2 has been temporarily closed since May 2020 to allow for the start of major construction activities, and the project was originally scheduled to reach completion and reopen in late 2022. At the moment, the earliest opening could be in Fall 2023, with full testing of the system possibly starting in August or September.

And when the O-Train’s Airport Link opens, YOW — the eighth busiest airport in Canada based on total annual passengers in 2022 — will become the third airport in the country to be served by a “train to the city.”

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This southward extension involves building two new branches of the Trillium Line totalling 16 km of new route and six new additional stations, including the four-km airport route with two new additional stations. Testing of the airport route already began last month.

The Airport Station will be located immediately adjacent to YOW’s terminal building, connected by a short enclosed pedestrian bridge to reach the departures level.

Airplane mode: activated✈️

We’re making that easier with the new Airport Station as part of #Stage2LRT. The refurbished Alstom LINT trains have already begun testing on the 4-km Airport link. Check out this video! pic.twitter.com/OvZt7Ea5H8

— OC Transpo (@OC_Transpo) June 12, 2023

As the train approaches the terminus station at YOW on an elevated guideway, the dual track will narrow into a single track, similar to the SkyTrain Canada Line approach at Vancouver International Airport (YVR).

But unlike the Union Pearson Express terminus station at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), the YOW station will not be fully enclosed and climate controlled for Ottawa’s cold winters and hot summers, although it will still have a roof for some protection from the elements.

As well, unlike the Canada Line and Union Pearson Express, the O-Train’s Airport Link will not be a one-train ride to the city centre.

It is anticipated passengers travelling between YOW and downtown Ottawa will have to transfer trains two times, boarding three different trains on their journey while hauling luggage. This includes transferring to a different Trillium Line train at the new South Keys Station to reach Bayview Station, where passengers will transfer to the new Confederation Line. Trains will reverse direction at South Keys Station, but the potential holds for a direct train to Bayview Station in the future when demand warrants it. The new train service will replace buses.

Map of the O-Train system expansion in Ottawa, with the Trillium Line’s southern extension reaching YOW Airport shown near the bottom. Click on the image for an expanded version. (OC Transpo)

Artistic rendering of the Airport Station at Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport. (YOW)

This entire multi-train journey each way between YOW and downtown Ottawa was previously pegged at about 35 minutes.

In comparison, it is about a 20-minute drive or a roughly 50-minute bus ride (with alternative options to transfer to the Confederation Line for a small portion of the trip) between YOW and downtown Ottawa.

During operating hours, Trillium Line trains will typically run every 12 minutes, with the capacity doubled from running significantly longer trains — made possible by extending the length of the existing station platforms as part of the current project.

The Trillium Line extension project accounts for $1.2 billion of the O-Train’s $4.7 billion Stage 2 expansion, with Stage 1 being the 2019 opening of the highly beleaguered initial 13-km-long phase of the Confederation Line serving downtown Ottawa. The federal and Ontario provincial governments previously committed $155 million towards the Airport Link, with the airport authority covering up to $25 million.

In 2022, YOW saw a total of three million air passengers, representing a recovery of 59% of its pre-pandemic 2019 volumes. This includes 2.7 million domestic passengers, about 200,000 US transborder passengers, and roughly 100,000 non-US international passengers.

Canada’s first rail rapid transit link between an airport and the city centre was the Canada Line, built in 2009 in time for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Unlike the Union Pearson Express, the Canada Line forms a part of the regular subway network with typical station spacings that can be expected for an urban train.

This was followed by the opening of the Union Pearson Express just weeks before the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, with the 23-km-long route achieving high speeds with only two stops along the way between YYZ and Union Station.

The Canada Line and Pearson Union Express each have an end-to-end travel time of 25 minutes, which is faster than the alternative of driving.

In 2027, Montreal’s new REM driverless train network will open its route reaching YUL. End-to-end travel times between YUL and downtown Montreal are estimated at 20 minutes, faster than the driving time of over half an hour.

This week, the Alberta provincial government and the City of Calgary announced the launch of a new technical feasibility study that will determine the options for providing a new rail rapid transit link between Calgary International Airport and downtown Calgary.

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