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Urban rail Waterloo
NEW LRT and bus project that will connect the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo in Ontario is moving ahead after a request for qualifications for a design, build, finance, operate, and maintain public- private partnership contract for the initial 19km light rail project was issued last month. The deadline for bids for the 30-year contract is November 23. The 16-station line will run from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener. It is part of a 36km initial network of light rail and bus routes that will connect the three cities. Buses will be replaced by light rail from Fairview Park Mall to Ainslie Street Terminal in Cambridge as part of the project’s second stage, planning for which will begin in 2014. A fleet of 14 LRVs will be required for operations on the initial line which has a projected ridership of 27,000 during the first year of operation in 2017, rising to 56,000 by 2031. The cost of the light rail/bus project is $C 818m, with the Province of Ontario and Canadian government agreeing in 2010 to provide $C 300m and $C 265m respectively towards the capital cost of constructing the rapid transit system. The regional government agreed to meet $C 253m of the initial phase’s capital costs in September 2011.
passing loops will be added to the 8km, five-station line to reduce headways from 15 minutes to 8 minutes by 2014.
Toronto Political wrangling has severely
hindered progress on Toronto’s largest- ever transit expansion following the approval in 2008 of a $C 8.4bn investment by the province of Ontario in four light rail lines totalling 52km. The projects were developed as part of the Transit City plan issued in 2007 and are now key components of the Big Move transit programme adopted in 2008 by city transport agency Metrolinx which outlines projects worth over $C 50bn to improve infrastructure in Toronto and Greater Hamilton over the next 25 years. Construction of the Sheppard East light rail line that will run 12km and include 14 stations from Don Mills in North York to Morningside Avenue in Scarborough began in 2009 with the aim of opening the line on September 1 2013. However, work was halted in April 2011 when newly-elected mayor Mr Rob Ford cancelled all of the light rail projects in favour of building the Eglinton - Scarborough light rail line entirely underground.
Citing the lower cost of building light rail, Ford’s proposals were thrown out by the city council in February. However, construction has yet to restart and is not due to resume until 2017 due to a ruling by the government of Ontario which cited the price of other infrastructure projects in the region and a potential strain on resources which could drive up costs. The line is now not scheduled to open until 2021. Work though is underway on the
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19km Eglinton - Scarborough cross- town line from Jane Street/Black Creek Drive to Kennedy station, which is scheduled to open on time in 2020 and retains its original Transit City design. Described by Metrolinx as the cornerstone of the LRT network, the line has will link with 54 local bus routes, three TTC interchange subway stations and GO Transit services and includes a 10km tunnel from Keele Street to Laird Drive. Metrolinx approved a $C 320m tunnelling contract with Crosstown Transit Constructors consortium for the line on September 11 with work due to start by the end of the year on the 6.2km tunnel under Eglinton Avenue.
By adopting an underground scheme for the Eglinton cross-town line it would have been possible to connect the new light rail network with the existing Scarborough rapid transit service which uses standard-gauge infrastructure unlike Toronto’s metro and streetcar lines. However, the council rejected a proposal by Ontario premier Mr Dalton McGuinty to combine the line with an underground version of the cross-town line, allowing it to remain a closed system but to adopt the LRT infrastructure. The upgrade, which includes an extension to Malvern Town Centre when funds become available, will start in 2015 and is scheduled to be completed by 2020. Construction of the $C 1.2bn, 23.4km Etobicoke - Finch West LRT was also due to be well underway by now, but Ford’s cancellation pushed the start of work back until 2015 with a new expected opening date of 2019. The line will have 30 stations running west-east from Humber College in Etobicoke to Finch Station where it will connect with the Yonge University - Spadina subway line.
Edmonton
Construction is underway on an initial 3.3km section of a new North light rail line from the existing station at Churchill Square in the city centre north to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). The $C 755m project is being funded by municipal,
Churchill Square station in central Edmonton will be the interchange for the city’s future southeast to west, and north light rail lines and the existing northeast - south line.
IRJ November 2012
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