Gatineau reveals light rail vision
Trains could run by 2028: mayor
The first train is at least 10 years down the track, but Gatineau showed off its ambitious plans for 26 kilometres of light rail Wednesday and invited federal and Quebec officials to climb on board.
The plan has an estimated cost of $2.1 billion, trains included, and Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin noted that on some projects of this scope the top tiers of government pay the whole shot.
The plan would serve Gatineau’s booming west end for now, extending from downtown to Aylmer along two branches: one along Aylmer Road through downtown Aylmer, and the other north and west to the Plateau area. There’s still a lot of study ahead, but the concept is now on paper.
“The time to act is now,” Pedneaud-Jobin said. The trains could run by 2028, he added.
“Gatineau is growing fast and our road system is at its capacity as we speak,” he said.
West-end population is exploding, he said — up by 49 per cent from 2001 to 2011.
“We believe it will grow by 22 per cent more in 15 years.”
And he said buses alone aren’t the answer because even they are clogging the roads.
“We must change the fundamental structure” of public transit. And the routes announced Wednesday would put 43 per cent of the west-end residents within walking distance (700 metres) of a proposed train station.
The exact route through Gatineau hasn’t been mapped out. Pedneaud-Jobin acknowledged that available space in some areas is tight.
He noted that Premier Philippe Couillard spoke Tuesday in favour of the rail project, and that federal funding for transit “has never been as available” as today.
And with a Quebec election approaching, he said, it’s time to press all provincial parties for commitments to the project.
“We must reserve the necessary amounts immediately in order to make the project happen. We believe the time has come for massive investment where we live.”
Connections with Ottawa’s LRT are paramount, he said. The plan so far calls for two crossings of the river: on the Alexandra and Prince of Wales bridges, in order to link with the LRT at the east and west ends of Ottawa’s core.
He called the exact locations of the crossings a “delicate” point, but said these two bridges “are extremely interesting” from Gatineau’s point of view, giving access to the Rideau Centre and to the Bayview station and Tunney’s Pasture.
Pedneaud-Jobin said he has been in extensive discussions with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, “and we both agree that we have to have a system that is as much as possible fully integrated” into Ottawa’s.
Discussions about who will pay to fix the Prince of Wales Bridge must wait, he said. “What we presented is a vision for the future. We know that this discussion is going to be very important between the two cities and the two other governments.
“We are not making Gatineau stronger with this project; we are making the whole region stronger and that gives responsibilities to all levels of government.”
Trains would run every five minutes in rush hour and every 15 minutes during evenings and weekends.
Gatineau officials believe the electric train would reduce the number of Outaouais buses crossing into Ottawa by 60 per cent.