Council gave the Green Line a green light. No more delays. The core of the Green Line will be built, and I am committed to keep the City building until the entire project is complete.
Faced with cost escalation, Council had to make a challenging decision: build the core of Phase 1 of the Green Line LRT, or delay it further which will only make the project more expensive and less likely to ever be built.
The City is moving forward on construction of the Green Line LRT from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican. This revised scope facilitates future phases to be constructed both north and south, while bringing riders into the downtown and connecting to the Red and Blue LRT lines.
What will this look like?
The revised scope for Phase 1 will construct from Eau Claire to Lynnwood/Millican, defer the Centre Street S. station and shift the 4 Street S.E. station from below grade to ground level to align with the opportunities more closely being explored in the Alberta Passenger Rail Master Plan. The new maintenance and storage facility for new low floor light rail vehicles will be located at Highfield.
Though deferred, the Centre Street S. station location will still have a tunnel built where that station would be, and the necessary infrastructure will be put in place to ensure that the station can be built in the future. The proximity of the existing Red and Blue Line station on Centre St and 7th Ave SW, as well as the Green Line's planned 4 St SE Station, means the loss of potential riders is relatively low with this deferment. As the residential population in this area grows, the Centre Street S. station construction can be revisited.
Why the revised scope?
Major infrastructure projects across the country are facing cost escalation.
The Government of Alberta has been very clear that it will not consider additional funding, despite project cost escalation. This follows some unfortunate delays in approving provincial funding for this project.
In response, value engineering and design enhancement through the Development Phase created efficiencies, lowered design costs, and reduced the potential for unforeseen future costs. This generated savings of approximately $400 million. Despite several cost-saving initiatives, the price for building the core of Phase 1 of Green Line has increased by $705 million to a total of $5.797 billion.
Building the core of Phase 1 establishes the foundation for future LRT expansions, both north and south, and regional transportation links, ensuring the foundational infrastructure is in place to help realize the opportunities being explored in the Alberta Passenger Rail Master Plan.
What will this cost, and how is it being funded?
The City has committed an additional $705 million to Green Line total capital budget to complete the revised Phase 1 for the Green Line, “Building the Core.” Making this investment today will ensure Calgarians benefit from improved mobility, economic growth, and reduced climate impact.
Meeting these additional funding requirements will require City Administration to carefully weigh any other investments in formulating recommendations to Council for Mid-Cycle Adjustments to the 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budgets coming to Council this November.
This comes at a time where we’ve made generational investments in Affordable Housing, in the Downtown Strategy, in Transit Safety, in the Culture & Entertainment District, while supporting small businesses.
Council has made the decision to hold the line in our budget and not increase it beyond what is already planned at 3.6% (before the tax shift).
I am deeply appreciative of our finance team at the City, who developed a plan that did not raise taxes (and, without additional Federal or Provincial funding) to ensure we can get shovels in the ground and start building the Green Line.
What comes next? What actions are required to build more of the Green Line?
The City of Calgary has worked closely with partners at every order of government to leverage the City’s tax dollars —your tax dollars— to ensure that Calgarians are getting a fair share of the revenue we generate. This Council prioritizes making sure that our dollars go as far as they can in partnership with other orders of government.
The Government of Canada announced in recent months the $3 billion per year Canada Public Transit Fund with the intention of seeing funding delivered in 2026 and beyond.
The South Extension of the Green Line to Shepard supports the Government of Alberta’s Regional Passenger Rail Project. Similarly, the Government of Canada has stated that regional transit and achieving housing goals is the cost of entry for the Canada Permanent Transit Fund.
The City of Calgary is well positioned to leverage our dollars and collaborate with our partners to build the Green Line, build more housing around transit, and build out a regional transit system that the Calgary Metropolitan Area desperately needs.
But what we will not do is delay this project anymore. It’s time to build the Green Line.
What work has been done so far?
The Green Line's early works construction projects helped to mitigate risks ahead of main construction while delivering tangible benefits to all Calgarians.
Completing site preparation, utility removal, and other critical tasks before the main construction reduces the risk of delay and cost overruns by identifying and addressing potential problems before they become significant issues. Since 2017, advance work has been under way including relocating and renewing utility infrastructure, remediating landfills, and preparing land ahead of main construction.
The total committed spend on Green Line to date includes the design of the new Light Rapid Vehicles (LRVs), more than $400 million of completed “early works” construction and almost $350 million for land acquisition. The new low floor LRVs for Green Line are in production and will begin arriving in Calgary in 2027.
The City remains in close contact with our funding partners at the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada.
For more information on the Green Line, visit Green Line LRT | Home (calgary.ca).
