WSP and Hatch announced the formation of a joint venture (JV) partnership that will serve as the design engineers for the second stage of Ottawa’s three-part Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. Stage 2 involves the city’s O-Train Confederation Line (east-west) extension project, which runs east-west through downtown.

The partnership was selected by and will work in collaboration with East-West Connectors (EWC), which is comprised of Kiewit, Eurovia and VINCI. EWC entered a project agreement with the City of Ottawa in late April 2019 to lead the design and construction of the extension.

The contract covers design, construction and financing of 27.5 kilometers (km) of new rail line. WSP and Hatch will provide design engineering services to build 4 km of cut-and cover tunnels, 20 engineering structures, 16 stations, as well as a maintenance and storage facility. The JV team will provide the associated systems, including the power supply, supervision and voice-data image system, signalling and train control system.

WSP and Hatch will be supported by Perkins + Will and Diamond Schmitt Architects (architectural services), and Thurber Engineering and Jensen Hughes (specialty sub consultancy).

About WSP

WSP is one of the world's leading professional services consulting firms. We are dedicated to our local communities and propelled by international brainpower. We are technical experts and strategic advisors including engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors and environmental specialists, as well as other design, program and construction management professionals. We design lasting solutions in the Transportation & Infrastructure, Property & Buildings, Environment, Power & Energy, Resources and Industry sectors, as well as offering strategic advisory services. With approximately 48,000 talented people globally, we engineer projects that will help societies grow for lifetimes to come.