style. The main departures hall (now the main conference area) is based on the Great Hall of the Roman Baths of Caracalla at 3/4 scale. It is therefore similar to the now-destroyed departures hall of New York Penn Station. The cavernous structure has never been well suited to its role as a conference centre. In the mid-1990s a proposal was made to turn it into the new home for the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, but these plans fell through. In his final year in office, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced that the building would become home to a new museum of Canadian political history, but incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin cancelled this project, and it has remained a conference centre. In 2007, the idea of reverting the building back to its original use sprang up as Ottawa considered various proposals for regional commuter rail systems. It is seen as being feasible to do so (although it would require a long tunnel to reconnect to the existing railway tracks) ; however, the Government of Canada's Department of Public Works says the building is not for sale. Temporary Senate of Canada building In July 2013, it was announced by Public Works Canada that the building would be used to temporarily accommodate the Senate chamber (in the main concourse of the old train station) along with 21 Senate offices and three committee rooms (in the old general waiting room) while the Centre Block undergoes major rehabilitation work projected to take up to ten years. It was decided that the need to rehabilitate this historical building presented a perfect opportunity to find an interim home for the Senate. The works which are already well under way, will include: seismic reinforcement; restoration of the masonry; replacement of roofing materials including skylights, replacement of obsolete electrical, mechanical and life safety systems to meet current codes; renovation of the interior space; removal of outdated conference amenities added in the 1960s (i.e. translation booths); conformity to universal accessibility requirements; abatement of hazardous materials; and expansion of the loading dock, to improve serviceability limitations of the building. In February 2019, the Senate of Canada Building formally re-opened in its current role. See also Ottawa station, the station opened in 1966 to replace Ottawa Union Station References External links Senate of Canada Building on the Senate of Canada website NCC Watch: Ottawa Union Station The Railways of Ottawa -