planning principles. The station opened on July 31, 1966, just a few months prior to the start of Canadian Centennial celebrations. The first train to arrive was the Canadian Pacific Railway's Rideau from Montreal, which left shortly afterwards at 9:04 a.m. Per a sign located inside the station: "The Ottawa Station was completed in 1966 as part of a plan for the relocation and consolidation of many railway lines built between 1854 and 1916. The new arrangement was based on the plans of the noted urban planner, Jacques Greber, and was constructed by the National Capital Commission. The Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific railway are owners and operators of the new installations." Throughout its history, the station has won a number of architectural awards. It won a Massey Medal for architecture in 1967. In 2000, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada named the station as one of the top 500 buildings produced in Canada during the last millennium, and in 2007 it was awarded the Landmark Award by the Ontario Association of Architects. Criticism While the relocation of Ottawa station seemed to be a good idea in 1948, the move to the outskirts of Ottawa put rail travel at a comparative disadvantage to other forms of transportation in the city. Although passenger rail travel collapsed across North America following World War II, the downtown station may have maintained a higher market share over time and been useful for commuter rail due to its close proximity on foot to many destinations. Prior to the creation of Via Rail in 1977, closing downtown stations and rebuilding them in suburban areas was an ongoing trend in a number of other cities across Canada, including Quebec City, Saskatoon and Victoria. At the time, it seemed to many local governments that the benefits of removing tracks and railyards from downtown areas outweighed the benefits of providing rail access directly to downtown - as passenger rail appeared to be declining and increasingly irrelevant. These decisions helped accelerate the decline in passenger rail popularity further, as direct to downtown service was one of the few remaining advantages trains had over airplanes. This could be seen at Ottawa station. While Via Rail provided a shuttle bus to the city centre, the increased distance added up to 25 minutes in travel time to the fastest train to Montreal and reduced its competitiveness with other forms of travel.