Knowing that each vendor has different standard lengths for their vehicles having fixtures to deal with the gap on the platform vs the train seems like a bad idea. They went with standard gauge rails to be able to procure vehicles off the shelf, but if only one specific vehicle length will work they are really trying their hands behind their backs for the future.
 
It's typical PC government spin/budget inflation of numbers. Just like how they magically got to how the Hamilton LRT would cost billions and billions of dollars.
 
It's typical PC government spin/budget inflation of numbers. Just like how they magically got to how the Hamilton LRT would cost billions and billions of dollars.
According to the Auditor General of Ontario: https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en20/20VFM_06metrolinxgov.pdf Pages 5-6

"The Ministry was aware as early as 2016 that the total cost estimate for the Hamilton LRT would be higher than the $1 billion in capital costs that the province had publicly committed to funding in 2015, but it did not make this fact public. The $1 billion was sufficient to cover only the project’s initially estimated construction cost. Subsequently, in December 2016, Treasury Board approved a budget of $2.981 billion for the project, based on estimated costs that 6 included $823 million in construction costs. In March 2018, Treasury Board approved a revised cost estimate of $3.659 billion, including construction costs of $1.083 billion, because the LRT’s estimated length had increased. We found that the 2016 and 2018 estimates did not represent the full cost of the LRT and were significantly understated. These estimates were not made public at those times. Based on a detailed review, we found that the $5.5-billion cost estimate reported by the Minister of Transportation in December 2019, when the project was cancelled, was reasonable."

So no, this wasn't a case of the PCs spinning stuff.
 
According to the Auditor General of Ontario: https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en20/20VFM_06metrolinxgov.pdf Pages 5-6

"The Ministry was aware as early as 2016 that the total cost estimate for the Hamilton LRT would be higher than the $1 billion in capital costs that the province had publicly committed to funding in 2015, but it did not make this fact public. The $1 billion was sufficient to cover only the project’s initially estimated construction cost. Subsequently, in December 2016, Treasury Board approved a budget of $2.981 billion for the project, based on estimated costs that 6 included $823 million in construction costs. In March 2018, Treasury Board approved a revised cost estimate of $3.659 billion, including construction costs of $1.083 billion, because the LRT’s estimated length had increased. We found that the 2016 and 2018 estimates did not represent the full cost of the LRT and were significantly understated. These estimates were not made public at those times. Based on a detailed review, we found that the $5.5-billion cost estimate reported by the Minister of Transportation in December 2019, when the project was cancelled, was reasonable."

So no, this wasn't a case of the PCs spinning stuff.
We've already been through this before, so i wont go into details again. The PC's conveniently rolled in 30 year operational and maintenance costs of the Hamilton LRT into the capital costs, and claimed the LRT would cost $5+ billion dollars. Then used that as the reason to cancel the project.

So although the cost of the LRT would've been greater than the initial $1 billion claimed by the Liberals, the PC's exagerated and inflated the costs to suit their narrative. No reason to think they arent capable of doing it again.
 
We've already been through this before, so i wont go into details again. The PC's conveniently rolled in 30 year operational and maintenance costs of the Hamilton LRT into the capital costs, and claimed the LRT would cost $5+ billion dollars. Then used that as the reason to cancel the project.

So although the cost of the LRT would've been greater than the initial $1 billion claimed by the Liberals, the PC's exagerated and inflated the costs to suit their narrative. No reason to think they arent capable of doing it again.
I wonder if it makes sense to quote these projects in terms of annual expense, amortized over 30 years. And maybe that will make the upfront cost for many of these projects easier to swallow. So our $6B LRT becomes $200M per year. Less, actually, if you assume that the cost increases with inflation over 30 years.
 
There’s no additional funding earmarked. The latest video from Metrolinx claimed that there were talks and preliminary designs with the GTAA. And W.K. Lis may be right: it may all come down to what GTAA is willing to put in.

That's a shame. They have more than enough funds to get to the airport had they not TBM'd by Doug's house. Reminds me of when Homer was sanitation commissioner and used a year's worth of funds in a month. .

Def weird thinking back on when the Prov uploaded all the LRT projects Eglinton was to be one project, built at once. Now it's four, over several decades.
 
Def weird thinking back on when the Prov uploaded all the LRT projects Eglinton was to be one project, built at once. Now it's four, over several decades.
I don't think there's a problem with building projects in chunks. In fact, there's something to be said for keeping that institutional knowledge around; imagine where we'd be if we'd constantly built slowly! TBMing the Eglinton West extension is just a waste of money. It would have been a far better use of money to have built a separated ROW at grade or elevated. Or even, if they were going to tunnel, to use cut-and-cover.

But that ship has sailed.
 
I don't think there's a problem with building projects in chunks. In fact, there's something to be said for keeping that institutional knowledge around; imagine where we'd be if we'd constantly built slowly! TBMing the Eglinton West extension is just a waste of money. It would have been a far better use of money to have built a separated ROW at grade or elevated. Or even, if they were going to tunnel, to use cut-and-cover.

But that ship has sailed.
Have to remember that there's a BIG natural gas pipeline on the south side of Eglinton Avenue West in Etobicoke. Hence why the portals and stations are located on the north sie of Eglinton. There were yellow signs indicating the locations, if they haven't been snapped off yet.
 

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