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Because much of the line follows the Osgoode Pathway through the bush southeast of the airport before hooking west through farmers’ fields to Riverside South, the work is perhaps the least noticed of all the Stage 2 construction. But with an opening expected in 2022, southeast Ottawa residents will be the next in line for rail service.

“All this work is offset from Albion Road, so no one can see it unless you’re coming across on Leitrim Road and notice the construction signs. This work is pretty buried. It’s not obvious that it’s happening.”

Drivers on the Airport Parkway and Uplands Drive can also get a glimpse of the grade work being done where the LRT will pass over those roadways on its way to the airport terminal.

Unlike the electric Confederation Line, trains on the Trillium line will continue to run on diesel. The seven new Stadler trains are hybrids that use diesel engines to drive electric motors for traction. Converting to an electric train is “completely doable”, Morgan said, though there are immediately no plans to do so.

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The six existing Alstom trains that currently run between Bayview and Greenboro will be put into service on the airport spur, which will have new stations at Uplands near the EY Centre and the airport terminal.

The “crux” of the Trillium Line construction is where the LRT meets the existing and busy Via Rail line, Morgan said.

“You’re going over a lot of rail systems,” he said. “There’s a pedestrian underpass. There’s the Transitway we have to go over. There’s Sawmill Creek in there. It’s a constricted area to work in and on top of that you have whatever number of Via trains coming through that day and we can’t disrupt their service.