Calgary's Green Line is on track,
but significant costs are derailing the original plan to address
the serious financial situation,
council has taken an important decision based on the expert
recommendations of the Green Line board.
Originally $5.5 billion, the first phase of the Green Line
was set to run 18 kilometers from Eau Claire to
Shepherd.
But with cost ballooning to more than $7 billion,
the city is shortening that phase aimed at cutting costs,
eliminating 6 stations from the scope and running the line
from.
Heir to Linwood Milliken The change will also see the
tunnel under downtown shortened,
with one station near Stampede Park now above ground.
We have a high level of confidence that full funding
will be available to us and that we will be
able to proceed.
The new cost for the revised line is $6.2 billion,
with the city covering the extra cost through reserve funds,
efficiencies and growth in the tax base that would get
us further.
Than not moving on this project at all.
The move will mean lower ridership with revised projections showing
32,000 daily riders,
down from 55,000 in the previous alignment.
Concerning for some critics of the line.
This is a short stub of a line that is
not going to serve our citizens council.
Voting 4:50 in favor after hours of closed door discussion
and public debate.
There will never be a cheaper time to build the
Green line then today.
Let's make the wise choice.
Let's move forward. We already have a train system downtown,
people in the far North and South.
Now have no train. It doesn't make any sense to
me.
But the mayor is vowing to find the money to
extend the line both further South and N eventually.
We continue to work with other orders of government to
make sure that we can get the funding in place
in a phased way to complete all of it.
City officials say they need to work with other orders
of government to sign revised funding agreements so construction can
begin later this year.
Adam Mcvicker, Global News.