Major transit projects in Canada are facing repeated delays, leaving citizens frustrated. Despite the government's commitment to building new lines, a lack of progress and the departure of Metrolinx's CEO raise concerns about the future of these projects.
Canadians waiting for new transit could be forgiven for feeling like Charlie Brown having the football snatched away. The opening dates for major projects slip repeatedly, and sometimes disappear entirely. When will the $13-billion Eglinton Crosstown LRT line in Toronto open? No one knows.
Also in December, a report from four researchers at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities shows that the cost per kilometre to build rail transit in Canada is more than 60 per cent higher than the global average. The authors, who blame this on factors including designs that are overbuilt and the heavy use of consultants, warn that soaring costs are undercutting efforts to create meaningful transit capacity.
‘Cut and cover’ techniques were central to these workers’ strategy in 1969 to extend the Yonge subway in Toronto. The Don River was dammed and redirected so they could dig beneath the riverbed, assemble a steel and concrete box, then return the water to its usual course on top.Here's what cut-and-cover looked like from the Cedarvale Ravine in 1975, another phase of expansion to a north-south subway route.Another development is that city transit agencies no longer do their own expansion work.
“It started with hospitals, and it moved into other types of social infrastructure, and in those instances worked generally okay. And then it came over to transit, and it just hit a wall,” Prof. Siemiatycki said. “And you can see it right across the country.” Parts of the Ontario Line, including its main operations and maintenance contract, are conventional P3s. Other chunks, however, use what the industry calls a “progressive” or “negotiated” model, which sees governments and contractors collaborate in the early design phases to iron out problems and anticipate cost overruns before a final price tag is set.
Politicians also throw sand in the gears by micromanaging aspects of design, said Marco Chitti, a fellow in the transportation and land use program at New York University who has studied Canadian transit. What went wrong? The list is lengthy and includes some huge issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant supply chain shortages and labour constraints, as well as small ones, such as fixing work that wasn’t done properly. Throughout, a fractious relationship between Metrolinx and the consortium of international companies that are actually building the line has brought the two parties to court repeatedly.
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