Ottawa station

This article is about Ottawa's main railway station. For the bus station, see Ottawa Central Station.

For other uses, see Ottawa station (disambiguation).

Ottawa
Main entrance seen in 2013
General information
Location	200 Tremblay Road Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3H5 Canada
Coordinates	45°24′59″N 75°39′06″W
Owned by	Via Rail
Line(s)	Corridor
Platforms	1 standard-level side platform 3 low-level island platforms
Tracks	5
Connections	Tremblay  N39
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	330 spaces (surface lot)
Bicycle facilities	Access to Capital Pathway network Bike check service on some trains
Accessible	Yes
Architect	John B. Parkin & Associates
Architectural style	International
Other information
Station code	Via Rail: OTTW IATA: XDS
Website	Ottawa train station
History
Opened	August 1, 1966
Rebuilt	2016-2018
Electrified	No
Passengers
FY2016	800,000+ yearly
Services
Preceding station Via Rail Following station Fallowfield toward Toronto Toronto–Ottawa Terminus Terminus Ottawa–Montreal Casselman toward Montreal Fallowfield Limited service Terminus Terminus Ottawa–Québec City Casselman toward Quebec City
Heritage Railway Station (Canada)
Official name	Ottawa Railway Station
Designated	June 1, 1996
Reference no.	15815
Location Ottawa station Location in Ottawa Ottawa station Location in Southern Ontario Ottawa station Location in Ontario Ottawa station Location in Canada

Ottawa station (French: gare d'Ottawa; IATA: XDS), 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 (known locally as the Queensway) near Exit 117 and east of Riverside Drive (Regional Road 19) in an industrial park area. Its main entrance faces north to Tremblay Road.

Station platforms in 2013

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. (However, there is no pedestrian bridge over the tracks, so this can only be accessed on foot or by car via Belfast Road.) 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 (with connections). 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 (effective July 14, 2020).

Ottawa - Québec City

Train	Operator	From	Via	To	Freq.
22	Via Rail	Ottawa	Casselman - Alexandria - Coteau - Dorval - Montreal - Saint-Lambert - Saint-Hyacinthe - Drummondville - Charny - Sainte-Foy	Quebec	1/day
28	Via Rail	Ottawa	Casselman - Alexandria - Dorval - Montreal - Saint-Lambert - Saint-Hyacinthe - Drummondville - Charny - Sainte-Foy	Quebec	1/day

• No local service between Québec City, Sainte-Foy and Charny, or Saint-Lambert and Montréal.

Ottawa - Toronto

Train	Operator	From	Via	To	Freq.
53	Via Rail	Ottawa	Fallowfield - Smiths Falls - Brockville - Gananoque - Kingston - Napanee - Belleville - Trenton Junction - Cobourg - Port Hope - Oshawa - Guildwood	Toronto	1/day
59	Via Rail	Ottawa	Fallowfield - Smiths Falls - Brockville - Kingston - Belleville - Trenton Junction - Cobourg - Oshawa - Guildwood	Toronto	1/day

• No local service between Ottawa and Fallowfield, or Guildwood and Toronto.

Structure

Interior of Ottawa VIA Rail Station including ticket desk

A spiral ramp descends to an underground passageway to the far platforms

Ottawa station is an international style building composed of exposed cantilevered Vierendeel trusses supported by massive concrete piers. This creates a spacious open plan interior with a powerful roofline. The station's walls are a non-loadbearing glass skin and extend through the open steel trusses to the roof deck. None of the interior walls extend above the lower chords of the trusses, allowing for an uninterrupted view of the roof structure.

Inside, an expansive waiting area features a circular ticket office and a descending circular ramp leading to the far platforms.

History

Ottawa's former Union Station in the 1920s

For more information on the early history of rail in Ottawa, see Ottawa Union Station.

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 (CNR) and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) 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 (active 1912–1966), 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

Ottawa station waiting area, 2017

The station is staffed and offers ticket sales, checked baggage and checkroom service, bicycle box service, an ATM, a restaurant, vending machines, wifi (in the station and business lounge), 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

Main article: Tremblay station

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.

Airport shuttles

Air France–KLM runs a connecting shuttle bus from this station to Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport for Air France and KLM passengers only. As of 2016, Air France–KLM has three daily bus services between those cities. Swiss International Air Lines previously operated its Swissbus service from Ottawa station to Montréal–Trudeau International Airport for its passengers.

Area redevelopment

In April 2020, developers Colonnade BridgePort and investment firm Fiera Real Estate acquired the 5 acre industrial site immediately to the east of the station, with plans to develop it into a mixed-use residential and commercial centre.

See also

• Ottawa Central Station - Ottawa's main bus terminal
• Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (IATA: YOW, ICAO: CYOW) - Ottawa's international airport
• List of Via Rail stations

External links

• Media related to Ottawa Train Station at Wikimedia Commons
• Via Rail temporary train schedule with changes due to Covid 19 (Effective 31 March 2020)
• Ottawa Regional Society of Architects — Architecture of the Ottawa Train Station
• Photos of Ottawa Train Station
• Via Rail station page for Ottawa station