Line 1 (O-Train)

Line 1 (French: Ligne 1), also known as the Confederation Line (French: Ligne de la Confédération), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, part of the city's O-Train system. It opened on September 14, 2019, and is O-Train's second line. It operates on an east–west route, with a segment under Queen Street in the downtown core, complementing the north–south Line 2 that operates to the west of the downtown core. Despite using light rail rolling stock and technology (e.g. pantograph electrical pickup from overhead catenary rather than a third rail), Line 1 is completely grade separated.

The project was unanimously approved by the Ottawa City Council on December 19, 2012, with the contract being awarded to Rideau Transit Group. Construction began in 2013, as originally scheduled. At a cost of CA$2.130 billion, the first stage of the line was the largest infrastructure project awarded in the history of the city before being surpassed by the Stage 2 extension of the line, which was projected to cost $4.66 billion.

Having had several plans for a metro system already for decades, in 1976 it was decided to start developing a project called Transitway, a bus rapid transit system. The Transitway was intended as a temporary solution in anticipation for urban rail and the first section eventually opened in 1983. As passengers numbers were rising, the decision was made to upgrade parts of the bus system to rail transport.

The Confederation Line rail project was approved unanimously by the city council on December 19, 2012, after many years of debate on a rapid transit network for the city. It represented the initial phase of the network and was awarded as a 30-year design–build–finance–maintain agreement to the Rideau Transit Group. The rolling stock chosen were Alstom Citadis Spirit light rail vehicles.

On February 21, 2014, an 8-metre-wide (26 ft), 12-metre-deep (39 ft) sinkhole opened above the LRT tunnel excavation site at Waller Street south of Laurier Avenue, interrupting electricity, water, sanitation, and storm services in the area, and forced the rerouting of traffic and a temporary halt to LRT tunnelling. Though the cause of the sinkhole was not confirmed, the deputy city manager, Nancy Schepers, said that "monitoring equipment has confirmed that the impact is localized, and the geotechnical team has not identified any safety concerns at this point".

On June 8, 2016, another sinkhole opened, in the middle of Rideau Street near its intersection with Sussex Drive, 25 metres (82 ft) above the LRT tunnel construction, swallowing three lanes of the street and a parked van. The collapse forced evacuation of the Rideau Centre and the closing of a number of local streets and businesses; no one was injured or killed, but the nearly completed tunnel was flooded, submerging a roadheader. Repairs were completed, and the City of Ottawa was cleared of any wrong-doing.

Testing of the line's rolling stock began in late 2016, and was planned to continue through most of the following year before the line was expected to achieve revenue service availability on May 24, 2018, followed by testing, acceptance, and opening of the line to the public. When the May 2018 deadline could not be achieved, it was announced the line would open to the public in November 2018. In September 2018, it was announced that the line would not open in November 2018 and would instead open in early 2019. In March 2019, this was pushed back to sometime between April and June 2019. In May 2019, the opening of the line was again delayed, until the third quarter of 2019, due to concerns about train operations. Rideau Transit Group failed to complete testing and hand over the system by the revised deadline of August 16, 2019, the fourth time RTG had not met a deadline it had revised with the city. OC Transpo announced on August 23, 2019, that the testing had been completed by RTG and the Confederation Line would open to the public on September 14, 2019.

On March 10, 2020, Ottawa City Council issued a notice of default to RTG, listing the flaws and problems with the line and its operation. Among the cited issues were a shortage of trains during rush hour, a maintenance facility fire, inadequate heating of train operator cars, and vehicle parts coming loose, the latter causing damage to transponders.