Eastern LRT opening definitely achievable’ by early 2026, says OC Transpo

Ottawa·NewThe head of OC Transpo has told Ottawa city councillors that getting the eastern LRT extension to Orléans open by the first quarter of 2026 is achievable.Transit chief says detailed briefing about long-delayed link to Orléans coming in a couple weeksListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Trim station is seen under construction in this drone photo taken in August 2023. When the station opens, it will be the new eastern terminus of Line 1. (Félix Desroches/CBC)The head of OC Transpo has told Ottawa city councillors that getting the eastern LRT extension to Orléans open by the first quarter of 2026 is achievable.That would be later than the most recent timeline, which put the opening at the end of this year.On Monday, Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney pushed for an updated timeline from Troy Charter, the interim general manager of transit services.”We’re not going to launch the system if it’s not ready to go,” Charter said. “At this point in time a lot of things still need to go right, but it’s definitely achievable to say Q1.”He said OC Transpo expects to provide a technical briefing in the next couple of weeks to give a detailed explanation of the timelines.The opening of the east extension has been repeatedly delayed before. In 2017, it was scheduled to open by 2022. Two years later, that was pushed back to 2024.The system still has not achieved substantial completion. Last month, OC Transpo reported that it found “deficiencies” in the system during a testing and commissioning phase.After substantial completion, OC Transpo will still need to put it through a more rigorous testing phase known as trial running before it can open to the public. That step is expected to take at least 21 days.ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.