Rideau station is a station on the

O-Train The O-Train is a light rail system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operated by OC Transpo. The O-Train system consists of three lines, all of which are fully Grade separation, grade-separated. As of March 2025, one line is currently being extended an ...

Line 1 on

Rideau Street Rideau Street () is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district. Ride ...

on the border of the Sandy Hill and

ByWard Market The ByWard Market (), is a retail and entertainment district in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located east of the government and business district. The Market district includes the market buildings and open-air market alo ...

neighbourhoods in Central

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada.

Location

The underground station is beneath

in Central Ottawa. Originally, Rideau station was to be built under the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

, with a station at

Confederation Square Confederation Square () is an urban square in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is considered the second most important ceremonial centre in Canada's capital city, after Parliament Hill. Roughly triangular in area, with Canada's National War Mem ...

, closer to

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

. It was decided to relocate the station to the east in partnership with

Cadillac Fairview The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, branded as Cadillac Fairview, is a Canadian company that invests in, owns, and manages commercial real estate, mainly in Canada and the United States. As of March 2017, the company had 73 properties, enco ...

, the owners of the

Rideau Centre The Rideau Centre () (corporately styled as CF Rideau Centre) is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street, the ByWard Market, the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and N ...

, where it would serve more people and provide access to the

. There are two entrances from the

on the south side and another built into a

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five (banks), Big Five banks, it is the ...

on the north side of Rideau Street, at the threshold of the ByWard Market. Through the Rideau Centre, riders can walk to Hudson's Bay, the Westin Hotel, the Shaw Centre, the Transportation Building and the

National Defence Headquarters National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) ( French: ''Quartiers généraux de la Défense nationale'' (''QGDN'')) was created through the integration of the Canadian Armed Forces Headquarters (CAF HQ) with the civilian Department of National Defence ...

without stepping outside. The station serves destinations such as the ByWard Market,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

US Embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

, Shaw Centre,

Government Conference Centre The Senate of Canada Building () is a government building and former railway station that serves as the temporary seat of the Senate of Canada. Located at 2 Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa, it was known as Ottawa Union Station and served as th ...

, National War Memorial,

Château Laurier The Fairmont Château Laurier is a hotel with 429 guest rooms in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive, it is designed in a French Gothic Revival Châteauesque style to co ...

and

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...

, as well as retail shops, restaurants and hotels.

Layout

Rideau station is an underground

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

station. Two concourses located above the two ends of the platforms contain the

ticket barrier A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a turnstile c ...

s and give access to the Rideau Centre (west concourse) and the William Street/ByWard Market exit (east concourse). Both concourses feature elevators to the surface and the platforms. The station is the deepest on Ottawa's network, with the platform 26.5 metres underground. It also has the longest transit escalator in Canada at 35.3 metres. The station features two artworks: ''FLOW/FLOTS'' by

Geneviève Cadieux Geneviève Cadieux (; born 17 July 1955) is a Canadian artist known for her large-scale photographic and media works in urban settings. She lives in Montreal. Education Cadieux was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1955. She received her BA in Visua ...

, a set of two glass screens on the station concourses overlooking the platforms; and ''The shape this takes to get to that'' by

Jim Verburg Jim or JIM may refer to: Names * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy People and horses * Jim, the nickname of Yelkanum Seclamatan (died April 1911), Nat ...

, a set of murals in the access stairwells. Additionally, an exhibition area called "Corridor 45, 75" is located along the corridor connecting the west concourse with the access to the Rideau Centre.

Service

The following routes serve Rideau station as of December 20, 2020: Route 12 is temporarily truncated west of St. Laurent Boulevard due to the Montreal Road revitalization project. Connections with

Société de transport de l'Outaouais Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

as well as OC Transpo routes R1, 11, 16, and 19, exist on the other side of the Rideau Centre, at Mackenzie King station, accessed via an indoor interchange.

Sinkhole

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

unexpectedly appeared on June 8, 2016, on

adjoining the excavation for the underground station.

References

External links

Confederation Line: Overview of Rideau station
{{OC Transpo 2019 establishments in Ontario Line 1 (O-Train) stations Line 3 (O-Train) stations Railway stations located underground in Canada Railway stations in Canada opened in 2019