Steve X
Senior Member
Against his wishes
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- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
Towered
Superstar
Streetcars coming to Scarborough after all...using tax money from a subway fund implemented by the notorious streetcar hating former mayor. The irony is delicious.
Poor Rob must be turning over in his grave.
sixrings
Senior Member
He’s the mayor of heaven. I’m sure he’s alright.
syn
Senior Member
Right now the city has no way to pay for it. The motion is nice, but we've seen this motions time and time again. Now they'll start asking the province and feds for money.
Let's not forget the EELRT was fully funded in the previous SSE plan (until the SSE cost rose to such a point that there was no longer any cash left).
Don't think it will happen with this government who has not voiced any real support for the project.
TRONto
Active Member
That's the part I didn't understand. I thought the funds were originally for the SSE and now that the funds are being redirected, I would have thought it would be enough to build the EELRT. Ontario already said no as part of the deal for building the SSE so maybe the feds? It's all a bit messy
syn
Senior Member
It can definitely get confusing. Apologies, my response was not completely accurate either.
Funding for the EELRT under the previous SSE plan was technically still there, but used up by the SSE as costs quickly ballooned. When Ford took over, that plan was scrapped, with a return to a three stop extension and no EELRT funding.
The city is committing $1.2 billion, but there are two issues. One, that's 30% of the total new cost, with the rest to be contributed by the other levels of government. Two, they'll have to find this $1.2 billion somewhere. Not sure where since this council and Tory have been unwilling to increase property taxes beyond the rate of inflation.
They also voted to advance the Waterfront Transit Network in December, but hard to see the current provincial government getting on board with that anytime soon.
TRONto
Active Member
I see what you mean now. I forgot the price tag had risen to $4 Billion dollars. There are only a couple tunnels so I don't know how that price is justified. Otherwise the LRT is I'm guessing would cost probably $150m/km? For 15km that around 2.2b, adding in a maintenance facility and a couple tunnels get you to 4b?
KhalilHeron
Active Member
Yea i'm not sure how it ballooned up that much. A lot is probably related work that they're throwing into that price tag, let road widening and such. On top of the 2 tunnelled sections there's also 3 bridges which cost more than at grade ig, plus new lrvs, and the track connecting to the msf (don't know anything about that so they could have something pricy in mind) it does end up sounding like a lot, but idk bout 4 billion a lot
syn
Senior Member
Part of the cost increase is a conflict with the new SSE plans.
Rainforest
Senior Member
One could figuratively call that fund "Rob Ford's legacy". But in reality, the transit levy was engineered by Karen Stintz and Glenn De Baeremaeker. Rob Ford voted for the motion they presented, but did that reluctantly because he didn't want new taxes.
Anyway, if the province absorbs the cost of SSE, then repurposing the funding for EE LRT isn't a bad idea.
Steve X
Senior Member
Funny that it cost $4.2b to build this LRT and $4.7b to build the Eg west "subway". Yes Eg west is only 60% as long. A new MSF is probably consuming a chuck of it which was originally allocated to the Sheppard East LRT.
afransen
Senior Member
Hurontario cost $250M/km, not seeing why EELRT would be cheaper. No incremental MSF?
allengeorge
Senior Member
There were a number of reasons the price tag increased. From memory:
EDIT:
- The SSE necessitated a longer tunnel
- The MSF was supposed to be bundled into the SELRT, but will now be standalone
- The length of the project itself increased
- More engineering design firmed up the cost
EDIT:
- Link to city report.
- Northern Light's comment on the above
syn
Senior Member
I think it's safe to assume both the EWLRT and SSE (and OL for that matter) will end up costing a lot more than currently quoted.
Steve X
Senior Member
I think that that they built most of the Crosstown, they'll know how much it'll cost. They are pretty much building another tunnel section of the crosstown on Eg West without a MSF. The tunneling cost should be similar. They have less stations and no interchange stations to worry about. The only thing new would be a bigger bridge over the Humber. The only questionable cost is the gas line under Eg West.
For the SSE, it's similar with just 3 stations. The only trouble portion is the Kennedy connection.