All aboard LRT to Kanata and Barrhaven? Campaign promise revives talk of Ottawa’s Stage 3 LRT plan

Joining us today with his reaction to the news is our City's Transit Commission Chair City Councillor Glen Gower.

A campaign promise on Day 7 of the Ontario election campaign has revived talk about the $6 billion plan to expand Ottawa’s light rail transit system into Barrhaven and Kanata.

Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford announced that if re-elected, the government would upload the city’s light-rail transit network to Metrolinx. The plan would see the provincial agency look after maintaining the O-Train, while OC Transpo would operate the day-to-day service of buses and the O-Train.

The announcement from the government said the integration of the O-Train under Metrolinx would “create new opportunities to reduce costs and improve services through greater economies of scale and expertise in managing large projects, particularly as the LRT project completes Stage 2 and begins Stage 3 expansion.”

While there have been plans to eventually expand LRT to Kanata and Barrhaven, there has been little talk of Stage 3 as Ottawa works to complete Stage 2 to Trim Road and Baseline Station/Moodie Drive and deals with a transit deficit.

Transit Commission chair Glen Gower says Stage 3 is important to run transit to Ottawa’s fastest growing communities.

“We finally have people talking about Stage 3 again at the provincial level,” Gower told CTV Morning Live Wednesday. “Stage 3 to Kanata and Stittsville would be huge to communities out in the west end.”

The estimated price tag to run LRT from Moodie Drive to Kanata is $2.5 billion, according to an estimate on Gower’s website in April 2023. Extending LRT from Baseline Station to Barrhaven Town Centre would cost an estimated $4 billion.

In September 2023, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said Stage 3 was unaffordable after the long-range financial plan for transit suggested a $6.6 billion shortfall in its budget over 25 years, mainly due to lower ridership.

To date, the City of Ottawa has yet to secure any funding for Stage 3.

The Ontario Liberals have also promised to upload Ottawa’s LRT system to the province, while the Ontario NDP says its transit plan proposes a 50/50 cost-sharing on operational dollars for municipalities for transit.

OC Transpo opened Line 2 and Line 4 between Bayview Station and Limebank Station, with a spur to the Ottawa International Airport in January. The Line 1 extension from Blair Station to Trim Station is scheduled to open later this year, while the western extension of Line 1 from Tunney’s Pasture to Baseline Station and Moodie Drive is scheduled for completion in 2027.

Here is what we know about Stage 3 LRT

LRT to Barrhaven

The Barrhaven Light Rail Transit line would feature 10 kilometres of twin-track, fully segregated electric LRT between Baseline Station and Barrhaven Town Centre, with seven stations.

According to the city’s Environmental Assessment Study, the project would include three new bridges over the VIA Rail line at Woodroffe Avenue, the Southwest Transitway and Fallowfield Road, and a new storage facility near Greenbank Road.

Stage 2 LRT from Tunney’s Pasture to Baseline Station is scheduled to open in 2027.

LRT to Kanata

The Kanata Light Rail Transit extension would see LRT run from the Moodie Drive to Kanata.

A 2017 Kanata Light Rail Transit Planning and Environmental Assessment Study proposed running LRT from Moodie Drive to a new terminal at Hazeldean Road, with eight stations and a new park and ride at Hazeldean and Palladium Stations.

The proposed route featured stations at March/Eagleson, Kanata Town Centre, Terry Fox, Didsbury, Campeau, Palladium, Maple Grove and Hazeldean.