Publications

$3.5b light rail line in Calgary to be built and financed by private partner
Infrastructure - FEBRUARY 8, 2019

$3.5b light rail line in Calgary to be built and financed by private partner

by Andrea Zander

The City of Calgary has confirmed that the majority of the Green Line light-rail transit project will be procured using a single design-build-finance model.

An RFQ will be issued for the C$4.7 billion ($3.54 billion) project during second quarter 2019.

In addition, the Government of Canada, Government of Alberta and The City of Calgary have signed a funding agreement for the project. The agreement represents C$3 billion ($2.26 billion) in funding, with equal portions from the provincial and federal governments. The funding will flow over eight years to support Stage 1 of the Green Line.

Stage 1 is recommended to extend 20 kilometers (12 miles) from 16 Avenue N (Crescent Heights) to 126 Avenue S.E. (Shepard), crossing the downtown core of the city. This will be the longest segment of light-rail transit (LRT) ever constructed at one time in Calgary's history. It will include 14 stations, a Centre City tunnel, a light-rail vehicle maintenance facility, and approximately 70 low-floor LRT vehicles.

In addition to the main contract, a number of supplemental contracts will be released utilizing a variety of procurement models. On Feb. 1, 2019, the City of Calgary released the RFQ for the Green Line’s new fleet of light rail vehicles. (LRV) The Green Line will use low-platform LRV technology that has not been used before in Calgary.

The scope of the other supplemental contracts and their expected release to the market will be outlined in a future briefing. The specific date of this briefing will be issued in the upcoming briefing for the release of the main contract RFQ.

Stage 1 is projected to begin construction in 2020, and is anticipated to open in 2026. The City of Calgary intends to expand the line in affordable and incremental pieces to the north and the southeast as funding becomes available.

Forgot your username or password?