Winnipeg Transportation and Infrastructure

Here is a picture of the system map


The Blue Line goes along rail corridors from the University of Manitoba through downtown across the Red River to the eastern part of the city.

The Red Line goes from the west part of the city through downtown to the north. It goes along a dedicated corridor on Portage and Main.

The Yellow Line goes from Downtown to the Airport via Sargent Avenue.

The Green loop follows the Blue Line and then branches to the southeast. It then loop backs from the southeast to meet with the south line.

The Light Blue Line serves the the southwest part of the city and intersects the red line at Polo Park Mall. It then goes north to the airport.

The Purple line serves the Northeast part of the city via a rail corridor

The Orange line serves the Northwest part of the
city.

The Light Green Line serves the southwest and goes downtown.

Here is a picture of how the actual corridors look on a map.

BTW This is a BRT system that tries to capture the best aspects of an LRT in that it runs on a guideway and has low floor vehicles. It is also more flexible and less expensive than LRT so it gets the best of both worlds.
Here's a picture of a similar system being built in Eugene, Oregon.

Here's an image that shows where the Downtown Stations are located.

Union Station is the main hub of the whole system.

Here are some zoomed-in maps which show the station names

Places Served by WRT

Here's a list of all important institutions are locations served by WRT
-Union Station
-Can West Global Park (Katz's Ballpark)
-Whittier Park (Festival du Voyageur)
-Assiniboine Park
-University of Manitoba
-University of Winnipeg
-Red River College
-Centennial Concert Hall
-Pantages Playhouse
-Kildonan Park
-St. Vital Mall
-Polo Park
-St. Vital Park
-Pan Am Pool
-Winnipeg Soccer Complex
-Unicity Mall
-Victoria Hospital
-Grace Hospital
-Health Sciences Centre
-Club Regent
-McPhillips Street Station
-MTS Centre
-Portage Place
-Winnipeg International Airport
-Sargent Park recreation complex

There's problem some I'm forgetting, but as you can see it serves most of the major destinations in the city. As for neighbourhood coverage, lines go to each part of the city.

^Um....you're not following here. Winnipeg cannot afford or justify LRT. Some tall forehead might decide that we will build one but it would be stupid here.
You only need to look at a map of Winnipeg to see this.

Imagine if Portland decided to run a line northwest along the Willamette along the west side of the river. It would make no sense because it it isn't cost effective. If you absolutely had to run a transit corridor along that way the only sensible thing to do would be to make it BRT. You can always upgrade it later but paying out a fortune in the interim is irresponsible. It's also important to note that in Winnipeg the city spreads out pretty evenly in all directions from the core. That means that given current densities there's no way to justify the expense of LRT. It is the same reason there is no subway going from Hillsboro to Tualatin. It simply wouldn't make any economic sense. Plus you have to remember that Winnipeg is not a high growth city. It could be fifty years at least before we could justify the expense of LRT over BRT. It's just simple economics.

First of all LRT is a good system, but BRT fits Winnipeg better. Winnipeg's planned BRT will go along dedicated corridors but will be more flexible. It can get off the guideway at its terminus. An LRT system would end more than a kilometre from the University of Manitoba. Passengers would then have to get off and transfer. With BRT none of that is needed, the bus can just get off the guideway and go directly to the destination. Winnipeg's BRT will not be exactly like Ottawa's. Ottawa's busway is a bus highway. Winnipeg's will have more modern, low-floor vehicles that operate on a guideway for a smoother more convenient ride (Like LRT). Also buses are less loud than rail vehicles when they brake. Some corridors do go through residential areas so noise is an issue. I can understand why some are weary, many cities have cheaped out on so called BRT systems.
I like to think of Winnipeg's BRT compared to an LRT like the Montreal Metro is to other subway systems. The Metro uses rubber vehicles on a guideway and is still considered a subway system. The concept is similar for Winnipeg's BRT.

I'll have some station renderings here soon.

Here is what the Union Station site looks like right now

As you can see it is just a parking lot right now

Here is a rendering of the expansion of the system's hub station Union Station.


Right now Union Station has 4 sets of two tracks going through it. That means eight tracks all together. Right now the first two are occupied by the Winnipeg Railway Museum. The next four have Via Trains and the last two carry freight traffic. The platforms at the station are dark, ugly and narrow with poor access to them. In this plan a set of tracks would be removed and freight traffic would bypass the city. Two sets would be dedicated to Rapid Transit while the last one would still have Via service. Also the platforms will be covered by a glass roof. The trains that are part of the museum will be moved to a dedicated site in the new station complex. There will be on street retail and offices in the building.