When will we finally get moving properly? On traffic jams, LRT, and my tired waiting for the Ottawa of the future
Today I learned that Line 1 in Ottawa may not return to full capacity until the end of May. OC Transpo says the system is now being restored through the replacement of cartridge bearing assemblies, the installation of a monitoring system, and further technical analysis, while the start of testing on the eastern extension once again depends on how many trains can be returned to service. And at that moment, what rose inside me was not just irritation, but a deeply female, accumulated exhaustion.
Because for me this is not some abstract “transportation problem.” These are my daily traffic jams on the way to work and back, the endless red brake lights ahead of me, the price of gas that hurts every time I fill up. And that is probably exactly why I react so sharply to news about the O-Train. I would much rather be sitting peacefully on a clean, reliable train, opening a book and reading — the way I once did in Kyiv, riding the metro, where commuting was part of life, not a test of endurance.
What hurts most is that Ottawa’s story of delays has been going on for years. The Confederation Line was once supposed to be fully operational in the spring of 2018, and other official documents stated plainly that the line was to be completed in 2018. In reality, Line 1 only opened on September 14, 2019. That means the city was already about a year and a half late — and that was only the beginning.
Then things only got worse. Stage 2 was promoted as a major expansion: 44 kilometres of new track and 24 stations, with phased openings — south in 2022, east in 2024, and west in 2025. In practice, Lines 2 and 4 only began opening in phases on January 6, 2025, and the city itself emphasized that this cautious rollout reflected the “lessons learned” from Line 1. Meanwhile, according to OC Transpo’s current official timeline, the eastern extension is now scheduled for 2026 and the western extension for 2027.
And it is not only about the schedule. The city itself acknowledges that the system is being hit by both technical defects and climate. After freezing rain and 22.7 mm of precipitation, the overhead catenary system experienced “extreme arching” — severe electrical sparking that damages the wires. At the same time, Ottawa’s transportation planning already takes into account the return of part of the workforce to downtown offices compared to 2022. In other words, we need a reliable urban LRT not someday in the future, but literally right now.
Against that backdrop, it is especially important that Canada has launched Alto — the country’s first high-speed rail network: about 1,000 kilometres, speeds of up to 300 km/h, and a corridor linking Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City, with the Ottawa–Montreal segment already chosen as the starting section. High-speed rail has long stopped being fantasy: Japan’s Shinkansen has been operating since 1964, China has built the world’s largest HSR network, and the European Union is continuing to accelerate the development of high-speed corridors. I truly want to believe that the mistakes made with the O-Train will be taken into account there: in timelines, contractor oversight, train testing, and winter readiness. But honestly, even more urgently than a future mega-project between cities, I need a normal urban LRT here in Ottawa, so people can get to work without stress, without traffic jams, and with a book in their hands instead of a steering wheel gripped in frustration.
Author Lidia O.