Ottawa’s O-Train to be expanded

Marshall Macklin Monaghan of Toronto has won over three major transit project assignments in just over a year. Having been hired to do program management of the $150-million York Rapid Transit Program and the $750-million GO Transit rail infrastructure program in the Toronto area, most recently the company was retained as program managers for the $675-million expansion of the Ottawa Light Rail Transit system. Marshall Macklin Monaghan will also help the city to select a public-private partnership to construct the extension.
The extension project will convert the Ottawa’s existing 8-kilometres of "O-Train" corridor to twin-track electric LRT technology. The existing O-Train, which opened in October 2001, is served by diesel LRT.
Expanded to 30-kilometres, the LRT will serve the city’s north-south corridor, with 15 stations. It will extend downtown to the Rideau Centre and south past the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport. It will also reach the new Riverside South community and cross the Rideau river to the Barrhaven community. The alignment has yet to be defined, but it’s expected construction will start by 2006.
The Marshall Macklin Monaghan-led team for program management includes KPMG, Earth Tech and Ottawa’s J.L. Richards and Associates. Their role includes recommending P3 delivery models, preparing the bidding documents, and evaluating the submissions.
The original “O-Train” was the first time in Canada an existing rail line had been converted for light rapid transit. It involved five new light rail stations and the upgrading of the existing infrastructure including the Dows Lake railway tunnel. Morrison Hershfield of Toronto did the project management, design and construction administration for CP Railway and OC Transpo. In 2002 all three organizations shared the American Public Works Association’s Project of the Year Award in the transportation category for the project.