The Walkley Site
The Walkley yard is a brownfield location currently in use by the City of Ottawa for the O-train maintenance. The site is located south of Walkley Road and north of Johnston Road.
The existing Walkley site is the logical choice for the new Train Maintenance
Yard. It meets all technical criteria:
- It is a 'brown' site
- Already contaminated by seepage (which
apparently doesn't even have to be cleaned if it re-used for the same
purpose)
- Already being used for Trains
- Already leveled
- Already plugged into rail system
- Formerly had a train turning track, and
the land
and roadbed for it is still there
- Already double-ended (Albion and Conroy)
- Enough capacity to handle future growth
(more than 200 trains)
- Can be used also by proposed new E/W line
instead of only by N/S line in the Airport Parkway site
- Existing residential homes are further than in the Airport Parkway Site
- City has an obligation to clean up brownfield sites— using the Walkley site is good opportunity to clean up a problem rather than make a new one, plus this is a win-win for the environment
- Walkley can serve both the NS and the EW lines
- Site recommended by the Ottawa Forests
and Greenspace Advisory Committee (see
letter)
The existing yard spans approximately 3 km, which is more than enough space to accommodate the proposed plans.
The North side of the site is currently owned by CP Rail. In 2000, CP Rail offered the site at a reasonable cost to the City of Ottawa. The City refused. Interestingly, the City of Ottawa’s East-West LRT Corridor Key Plan shows the corridor going through the Walkley Yard.
According to Transport 2000 Canada (an independent
national body concerned with sustainable transport), the Walkley Yard
location will be able to hold over 200 train cars.
That is 10 times more trains than what the City of Ottawa is currently
forecasting, and it is almost double the train capacity (105) which is
forecasted in the Transportation Master Plan.
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| Will the sale of this land prohibit the use of the Walkley site for a railway yard? And why are they selling it now ... planning or just coincidence? | Walkley is in an industrial park, with two rows of hydro towers, a snow removal dump... and has enough room for two maintenance yards. |
Existing Walkley Site clearly allowstrains to turn around. |
 Arial photo of Walkley site, plenty of room to build new facility. |
 City Of Ottawa currently uses the Walkley yards for the O-Train. |
 City Of Ottawa built fibreglass tents to extend the workshops for the O-Train |
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 The Walkley yard is a pre-existing industrial location. |
 Existing service road along the south side of tracks. |
 The south side of the Walkley Yard is currently used for freight trains by CP Rail. |
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