After Alto officials appeared to throw cold water on the idea of building a proposed high-speed rail station downtown, an Ottawa city councillor is hearing 'a lot of unease' from residents in the quiet neighbourhood adjacent to another key site under consideration.
Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr, who represents the area, said some residents in Ottawa's Eastway Gardens suspect yet another train station could soon be coming to their doorstep.
'I would say the majority of residents in that neighbourhood think that it's likely that a station would come there,' Carr said.
'There's a lot of trepidation, and a lot of unknowns. And there are concerns, definitely, homeowners that are very worried about expropriation.'
Eastway Gardens: Ottawa's 'Alphabet Village'
Eastway Gardens, dubbed Ottawa's 'Alphabet Village' for its unique street names, is located just east of the existing Tremblay Road train stations that currently host Via Rail and the O-Train. Alto, the federal Crown corporation tasked with building a fully electrified high speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, has identified the area as a potential location for its own stop in Ottawa.
Along Avenue U and Avenue T, residents hold a range of opinions on the project, from firm support to staunch opposition.
Avenue T resident Ali Khanafer said he'd rather see Alto build somewhere else.
'Noise, traffic, infrastructure around you,' he said. 'The noise of building and constructing, too, on top of that the noise of the whole thing. How much is it going to affect us in the long run?'
Longtime residents divided
After living on Avenue U for nearly 60 years, Lucy Pereira and her husband Gus only plan to leave if they're moving into a nursing home — or departing for 'the other side.' But Pereira, 80, isn't fussed about speculation high-speed trains could one day hurtle past her house.
'Ahh, no way,' she said, after learning the federal government is hoping to start construction on the first stretch of tracks between Ottawa and Montreal in 2029. 'It won't be for us. By the time it's going to be ready, we won't be around.'
If Alto ends up choosing the area over other potential sites, Pereira wouldn't mind.
'If we want a train to go fast, we gotta put it somewhere,' she said. 'Look at Europe, the other countries, they pack everything together. Canada's got tonnes of land. If we cannot live here, we can move someplace else.'
Alto's plans and public consultations
Alto, which is working on the project with a multinational group of companies including AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) and Air Canada, wrapped its first round of public consultations late last month. If everything goes ahead as planned, trains running along the corridor are expected to reach speeds of around 300 kilometres per hour with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois Rivières and Québec City.
In recent media appearances, Alto officials praised the current Via station on Tremblay Road while downplaying the potential of a downtown stop. This has heightened anxiety among Eastway Gardens residents, who fear their quiet neighbourhood may be transformed by construction and increased traffic.
Councillor Carr noted that many homeowners are worried about expropriation, as the high-speed rail project could require significant land acquisition. The uncertainty surrounding the project's timeline and exact location has left residents in a state of limbo.
