Update from the Green Line Board - July 2024

Since our appointment in January 2021, the Green Line Board has been focused on delivering results for Calgarians.

With a mandate from City Council to advance Phase 1 of the Green Line LRT Project, connecting the southeast to downtown and into the existing Red/Blue Lines, the Board has been deeply committed to managing costs and risks, while balancing community expectations and city-building opportunities. We have done this on behalf of our funding partners and all Calgarians. And we have done this by leveraging our collective technical, financial, planning and governance experience in megaprojects.

Green Line has never been more critical for Calgary, as the city faces substantial growth pressures with almost 122,000 new Calgarians expected to arrive in the city from 2023 - 2026. That’s a city bigger than Red Deer moving to Calgary in just a few years. As both critical transit infrastructure and a catalyst for much-needed housing and development, Green Line will build the spine to connect our growing city and Calgarians.

As a Board, we have been keeping Calgarians informed about our work over the past three-and-a-half years. Our Monthly Reports and regular meetings have shared the progress that we have been making with our $400M early works construction program, the selection of the new fleet of light rail vehicles, the acquisition and site preparation of more than $350M in land and the overall procurement process to bring on the contractors to design, price and build Phase 1.

The infrastructure sector in Canada has become more challenging and the cost to build Phase 1, approved in 2021 by the provincial and federal governments, exceeds the $4.9-billion capital budget. No major infrastructure projects have been immune to cost increases and the Board has been open about these pressures since May 2021.

To address rising costs and potential future escalations, while still achieving the benefits in the approved 2020 Business Case, the Green Line Board made recommendations earlier this week to the Executive Committee of Council on project design, delivery strategy and capital funding based on both the extensive work undertaken to reduce costs through value engineering and design optimization and the direct outcomes of contractor negotiations during the Development Phase. The recommendations are also based on collaboration with City of Calgary colleagues to ensure that Green Line can responsibly move forward within the current fiscal realities of the City, and without additional funding from the Province of Alberta and Government of Canada for this phase.

Research completed in January 2024 indicated that more than 90 per cent of Calgarians agreed Green Line supports future growth, improves mobility for underserved communities and will spur housing and economic development.  With record population growth, there is understanding that the need for LRT infrastructure is only growing, and it will never be less expensive to make this investment.

The Board thanks Council and our funding partners for your trust. We acknowledge the significant decisions that need to be made by Council next week and are firmly committed to working collaboratively to deliver the Green Line LRT for Calgarians.

Don Fairbairn
Marcia Nelson
Janet Annesley
Larry Beasley
Ian Bourne
Fred Cummings
Bharat Mahajan
Patricia McLeod, K.C.
David Duckworth