Alberta’s Minister of Transportation, Devin Dreeshen, warned that the federal government could be running head-first into a failure akin to Calgary’s Green Line LRT with the new high-speed rail planned between Toronto and Quebec City.
Dreeshen has previously called the Calgary project a “multi-billion-dollar boondoggle.” The blame for the failure of Calgary’s project fell on former Calgary Mayor and current provincial NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, Dreeshen previously argued.
“To be clear, we recognize your and the current Council’s efforts to try and salvage the untenable position you’ve been placed in by the former Mayor and his utter failure to competently oversee the planning, design, and implementation of a cost-effective transit plan that could have served hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in the city’s southern and northern communities,” he wrote in a Sept. 3 letter.
Dreeshen said it was encouraging to see the Liberals supporting mega infrastructure provinces between provinces but warned that not enough preparatory work had been done in advance of the announcement.
“The federal government doesn’t seem to have done the proper homework for this $80 billion high-speed rail project,” he told True North.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the project, he said Canada would only invest $3.9 billion over six years, on top of the $371.8 million provided in Budget 2024. However, according to CBC, Transport Canada said that a high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City could actually cost up to $80 billion.
“Trudeau just put taxpayers on the hook for $4 billion for the planning of this boondoggle,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “How much will this actually cost taxpayers?”
The high-speed rail network, named Alto, claims on its website that it will save money in five key areas. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cars on the road. Even under best-case scenarios, the claimed savings total $49 billion — roughly half of the projected cost.
Trudeau claimed Alto, the largest infrastructure project ever in Canada, will boost GDP by up to $35 billion annually and create over 51,000 jobs.
The 1,000-kilometre rail network between Toronto and Quebec City is currently in the consultation phase. The subsequent development phase is expected to last around five years. Alto will be made up of different phases, forming a rail network. Each phase is expected to take between five and seven years to build.
Calgary’s Green Line LRT project was initially promised to be a 46-kilometre line with 29 stations, costing $4.65 billion. The project’s distance was cut numerous times following that, and it ended up being slashed by 78 per cent. The number of stations fell by more than 75 per cent. Despite significant reductions in size, the project’s costs skyrocketed.
Dreeshen said the cuts came because the city council failed to do any of the proper costing, engineering or planning.“
At best, it was drawn up on a napkin,” he told True North.
Dreeshen then had some advice for the feds.
“Properly planning first, and building quickly after, is key to build these types of projects,” he said.
Despite the problems with Calgary’s LRT project, the province has big plans province wide for passenger rail.
The province proposed a commuter rail at the end of Apr. 2024 to connect the province. 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.