/ #obrien #oc transpo 

All aboard Ottawa's new light rail plan

[

](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/2010-english1.jpg)

Larry O’Brien’s transportation taskforce released their plan for a new light rail network in Ottawa. The plan is ambitious, covering a huge area in a relatively short timeframe.

The plan is also a brilliant piece of marketing, full of big & small details to win over voters, not to mention inspire the imagination:

 * 
The
[
 diagrams of proposed routes
](http://moving-ottawa.ca/map.html)
are done in the style of a London Underground map.  Makes Ottawa look pretty groovy, man.  (There's a tunnel, too.)
  


 * 
The taskforce wants to reclaim
[
 the old train
](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Conference_Centre)
station from the federal government, and restore it to its former glory as a train station.    It's currently a moribund conference centre.
  


 * 
The biggest criticism of the last O-Train plan was that it only served a narrow north-south route.  This one covers pretty much everything - north, south, east, west, Wakefield, Smith Falls, Carleton Place, Alexandria.  Very few Ottawans will be able say the train won't serve them.

** Related: ** Ottawa Transit Guide

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](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/2037-english1.jpg)