The Alberta government provided its most recent update on Calgary’s Green Line LRT project on Monday night.
The announcement, which aimed to “set the record straight,” was delivered by Alberta’s Minister of Transportation, Devin Dreeshen, in a five-minute monologue posted to X.
He explained that the Green Line was introduced in 2015 by former mayor and current Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi. The project initially promised to be a 46-kilometre line with 29 stations, costing $4.65 billion.
“The only issue? The city council back then failed to do any of the proper costing, engineering, or planning before coming up with that $4.65 billion price tag,” said Dreeshen. “At best, it was drawn up on a napkin.”
By 2017, due to improper planning, designing, and engineering, Dreeshen said that the project was slashed in half to 23 kilometres and 15 stations.
The project was then cut further to 18 kilometres, but completion remained impossible. The LRT project was further reduced to ten kilometres and seven stations. Based on the initial projections, the LRT’s distance was reduced by over 78% and the number of stations by more than 75%.
“This just goes from bad to worse. The most recent ten-kilometre mini-version of the Green Line doesn’t serve a lot of Calgarians at all,” said Dreeshen. “And, the project costs have, brace yourself, gone up to $6.2 billion.”
He added that taxpayers would be paying $630 million per kilometre of track. Montreal’s REM line cost around $86 million per kilometre, seven times less than the Green Line’s current costs.
“This new alignment would make the Green Line one of the most expensive and least effective LRT projects in North America,” said Dreeshen.
He added that the city of Calgary does not have money to waste with its current water crisis.
Calgary’s critical water feeder fractured on June 5 resulting in indoor water restrictions for a few weeks. Around three and a half months later, the city remains under water restrictions.
“Calgarians need to build a new water line to ensure this summer’s water crisis isn’t repeated. Lack of core water infrastructure has been a decade-long issue, but that’s for another day…” said Dreeshen.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warned that had the province not stepped in, the project risked being a “$6 billion boondoggle to nowhere.” The warning echoed Dreeshen’s previous remarks, deeming the project a “multi-billion-dollar boondoggle that will serve very few Calgarians.”
Dreeshen said the provincial government must ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are spent responsibly.
“We are not going to throw billions of taxpayer dollars away on a vanity project that fails in every way to address the actual transit needs of Calgarians,” he said.
Alberta plans to work with experienced engineers to design an above-ground line that integrates with the existing Red and Blue lines. The lines will connect the new station at Calgary’s arena and entertainment district and stretch as far south as Shepard.
The transportation minister added that the provincial government has big plans provincewide for passenger rail.
The province proposed a commuter rail to connect the province at the end of Apr. 2024. The rail plan aims to be completed by Summer 2025. A 15-year delivery plan will be presented, and the project aims to be completed by 2040.