Alto surveying properties in Ottawa ahead of impending station, route reveal

Residents of the quiet neighbourhood located on the doorstep of Ottawa’s Via Rail and O-Train stations on Tremblay Road are anxiously awaiting an announcement about yet another station — this one for much faster trains.

Alto, the Crown corporation tasked with building a fully electrified high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, is set to announce the location of its planned station in Ottawa within the next few weeks.

In Eastway Gardens, which is located just east of the Ottawa Train Station, residents are holding their breath in anticipation their neighbourhood could be chosen.

“It’s the uncertainty of not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Deanna Derby, whose Avenue P home is near Via Rail’s train tracks. “Do you sell your property? Do you wait it out? What kind of compensation would you get? It’s very worrisome.”

A lack of “clear cut” information from Alto, she said, is “disconcerting” for many of her neighbours.

Alto has been going door-to-door in the neighbourhood asking residents for permission to perform studies on private properties.

In an email, Alto spokesperson Marlee Socket said the organization is “currently conducting various field studies throughout the corridor to better understand existing conditions before a final route is determined.”

Some of the studies, Socket said, require access to private property, and Alto representatives may seek permission to carry out “geotechnical or environmental” work.

Residents may be compensated, but how much they get paid depends on the “nature of access required and the potential disruption.”

Socket stressed, however, that studies in a particular area do not indicate that a final decision has been made on either the route or the location of a future station.

Derby opposes the proposed high-speed rail line, believing it’s a luxury Canadian taxpayers can’t afford. She’d like to see the whole thing cancelled.

Elsewhere in her neighbourhood, views are mixed.

Along Avenues U and T in Eastway Gardens, dubbed Ottawa’s “Alphabet Village” for its unique street names, residents hold a range of opinions on the project, from firm support to staunch opposition. Many believe Alto is likely to build nearby.

Some residents have told the Ottawa Citizen they think the project should go ahead.  Others have raised fears about land expropriation and the noise that would come with construction.

While Alto hasn’t yet revealed its final choice for where it plans to build a station in Ottawa, officials have pointed to the Tremblay area as a leading candidate for months.

Alto CEO Martin Imbleau previously told the Ottawa Citizen that a stop at the former downtown Union Station, which was briefly the subject of intense speculation, would be “probably prohibitive and too difficult to build.”

Instead, he said, creating a “transportation hub” with the O-Train, Via and Alto on Tremblay Road “probably makes more sense” in terms of economics, timing and cost.

The station location in Ottawa and the route for a “narrower corridor” between Ottawa and Montreal are set to be announced this fall.

If the project goes ahead as planned, the fully-electrified rail line would eventually span nearly 1,000 kilometres from Toronto to Quebec City, with stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montréal and Trois-Rivières.

The government has claimed that trains on the proposed line would reach speeds of up to 300 km/h and cut VIA Rail’s current travel times in half.

Alto is working with a multinational group of companies comprising AtkinsRéalis, Air Canada, CDPQ Infra, SYSTRA Canada, Keolis Canada and SNCF Voyageurs.

Last December, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the roughly 200-kilometre leg between Ottawa and Montreal would be the first step of construction, with shovels expected to go in the ground in 2029 if given final approval by Parliament.

The federal budget watchdog expects the project would add up to 9,000 jobs in the area by the fifth year of construction, providing a “modest economic stimulus.”

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