Why doesn’t the City make more use of existing rail corridors?
Rail corridors were examined as part of the supplementary corridor analysis of the 2008 Transportation Master Plan update. Within the urban area, the locations of the freight railway corridors do not match the existing and future population and employment locations, as development has intentionally been directed to areas removed from the rail tracks. Outside Ottawa, the population and travel demand in the outlying communities have not yet reached levels that make rail extensions viable. As a result, the City is focusing its initial LRT investments on addressing transportation problems within the urban boundary. However, the City will continue to purchase surplus railway rights-of-way, as they become available, for use as future transportation corridors.
