Ottawa’s TransitNEXT has appointed Siemens Mobility to provide signalling and train control systems (S&TC) for Ottawa’s Trillium Line South Extension project. This will include the signalling system and installing new Automated Train Protection (ATP) technology to ensure safe train movements and optimise rail operations. Passenger numbers are set to increase considerably on the line as a result of the Trillium Line’s new south extension and connection to Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

The Trillium Line is one of two rail lines operated by the City of Ottawa servicing the greater Ottawa area.

TransitNEXT will construct a new four-kilometre rail link to provide rail access to the airport and reduce traffic along Ottawa’s Airport Parkway and its neighbouring communities.

Siemens Mobility will provide the engineering, design, integration support, testing and commissioning of Siemens Automated Train Protection (ATP) system – a state-of-the-art proven technology that will be installed on the existing trains, tracks and stations servicing the current Trillium Line, as well as the new trains, 16 km of new track and eight stations to be built for the new extension. Further supporting this newly installed train control system will be Siemens’ latest signalling systems, switch machines and signals.

TransitNEXT is the prime contractor responsible for the design, build, finance, and maintenance of the Trillium Line South Extension project. The operator of the line will be OC Transpo.

“Having prime responsibility to ensure that this project is completed successfully and on-time, we needed to have the right partners,” said Robert Alger, President, Infrastructure Projects at SNC-Lavalin. “Siemens Mobility is not only proven as an innovative technology provider, they are a company who has solid track record in completing complex projects regardless of challenges and climates.”

“The Trillium extension will provide greater access to Ottawa South and to Ottawa’s travellers, including the more than five million passengers that utilise the airport per year,” said Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, CEO of Siemens Mobility in Canada. “Our technology will help optimise the operations on this new line and provide an enhanced passenger experience that will feature greater reliability and availability given the new airport service.”

Siemens Mobility has been providing solutions to the Canadian transportation industry for more than 40 years, including light rail vehicles in Edmonton and Calgary, trainsets that will be delivered to Via Rail starting in 2021, and the rail electrification of the light rail systems in Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa’s Confederation Line.