John B. Parkin & Associates

VIA Rail Canada today celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Ottawa train station. The station is now owned by VIA Rail, but the National Capital Commission was responsible for commissioning the project 40 years ago. Designated a heritage site in 1996 under the federal Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, it is the youngest station to be given such a designation. Normally a building must be at least 40 years old to qualify.

The Ottawa train station was designed by John B. Parkin & Associates and built in 1966. The following year it won the Governor General's Massey Medal for Architecture. The station was built as part of Ottawa's railway relocation program. It was a new gateway to the Nation's Capital, built to be ready for Canada's centennial year in 1967. The simultaneous closure of the old Union Station, which had opened in 1912, led to the transformation of that imposing Beaux-Arts building into the Government Conference Centre.

The station operated from 1966 to 1981 through joint ownership of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific until it was taken over by VIA Rail. At that time VIA handled the transcontinental trains of both railways as well as intercity trains to Toronto and Montreal on three different routes. Today VIA offers daily service to Toronto and Montreal. The Ottawa station is VIA's third busiest station, serving over 700,000 passengers per year.