New virtual tour offers a look inside Trillium Line trains and stations

OC Transpo is offering a look inside the new Line 2 LRT stations and trains. (OC Transpo/Virtual tour)

OC Transpo is giving riders an opportunity to have a sneak peek inside the trains and stations along the Line 2 LRT.

A new 360 degree virtual tour on the transit agency's website allows users to take a walk through the new FLIRT trains, a LINT train and the Greenboro, Walkley and Airport stations, which are still under construction.

Users can explore the new facilities and click through different slides that describe the available features. OC Transpo says they are planning to create virtual tours of each station at a future date.

"These virtual tours were recorded during construction, so expect some temporary elements like missing signs or construction barriers, which will be gone once the station opens," OC Transpo says.

While it's not the real thing yet, the tour offers the first chance riders have to seeing what the Trillium Line will look like before its anticipated opening later this summer. The line is now nearly two years overdue, after it was originally scheduled to open for riders in August 2022. OC Transpo officials have remained tight lipped in committing to an opening date.

At a joint meeting of the Transit Committee and the LRT Subcomittee last month, OC Transpo officials said final signal and train control testing, communication systems testing, and final integration between the Transit Operations Control Centre and the field devices is expected to be largely complete by the end of June.

The final phases of testing will involve eight to 10 weeks of running the system at its normal service level to ensure operators can run the system during normal hours.

This will be followed by a 21-day trial running period, which is required before TransitNEXT, the SNC-Lavalin subsidiary running the line, can hand the reigns to the city to open the service to the public.

The city says the earliest the line could possibly open for passengers is in mid-August.