Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton

Reecemartin said:
I think its worth point out that in Europe and Asia Metros can be built for as little as $100m per kilometer (full big trains etc), the Canada Line in Vancouver was built for substantially less than the Valley Line and is entirely in tunnels / elevated + its a metro, albeit with lower capacity than something like the Toronto Subway.
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Canada line is older (so inflation needs to be accounted) and the stations are very short (which adds a lot of costs to extended, especially when tunnelled or elevated).

It is a great model of cheaper builds in NA though. Broadway and Langley extensions will be better comparisons as they complete.
 
Reecemartin said:
I think its worth point out that in Europe and Asia Metros can be built for as little as $100m per kilometer (full big trains etc), the Canada Line in Vancouver was built for substantially less than the Valley Line and is entirely in tunnels / elevated + its a metro, albeit with lower capacity than something like the Toronto Subway.
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How does the p3 affect things? I think the Valley line includes decades of maintenance in the cost.
 
Canada Line was also full P3. The Evergreen Extension of the Millennium Line completed in 2016 was a P3 but I think it may have only covered design build finance as it was integrated into an existing system where they owned their own rolling stock and maintenance equipment and facilities, that cost $1.4 billion for 10.9 km.
 
Councillor McKeen looked into 'disruption from construction' and made various requests to improve the process including:
- better information for proprietors, visitors, customers, residents
- budget for signage and wayfinding
- working with local BIAs to help promote or run events to support
- limit closures or temp. work impacts
- Asking for contractors to design schedules and approaches to 'minimize' impacts

Unsure what landed or is even documented to be honest.
 
I happened to walk along 102 Ave while some testing was taking place on Sunday. It looked like they were testing the signals. I saw a double train cross 100st going west, but when I got to the track, I noticed that the signals weren't cycling with the traffic lights. However, when the train approached the 100 St intersection going back east, the nearby eastbound signals for the right track switched to vertical, while all other signals remained horizontal (including the eastbound signals for the other track). Once the train passed the intersection, the signals that were vertical cycled back to horizontal, and stopped cycling once again.
 
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Signals appear to be staying on in Millwoods from my last ventures along the line - unless there was a train in the vicinity I didn't see.

Noted the following on my way home from work yesterday:
  • Boom lift at Strathern substation - these spent a lot of time around Bonnie Doon late oct/early November to fix catenary issues at the north crossing of 83 St
  • Trucks with tents and heaters deployed on both tracks just north of the Bonnie Doon crossovers
  • Trucks with tents and heaters deployed on both tracks around Avonmore station - including the truck they use for pulling cable
  • 2 sets of grounding cables, derails, and stop signs deployed at the north end of the elevated guideway
  • various boom lifts under the guideway south of Argyll road
  • Western Pacific flatbed crane truck parked diagonally across both tracks south of Roper Road
For the promise of being able to run the full length of the line for testing it sure doesn't look like much has changed since before the Christmas break. That being said it looks like some of the scaffolding around the piers is starting to come down.

At the rate they're going I'm doubting this thing will be in revenue service by the summer.
 
That could explain the elevated section being closed again, but why are they still working between Avonmore and Strathern? That has been open the whole time and they have been testing trains on it.
 
With the pier repairs completed you would think coming up on mid January we would have an update on what is left to complete to get started. The fact we haven't worries me a great deal.

They also made mention of needing to come to an agreement with the city on the look of the repairs. Wonder if we will hear anymore on that or if it will be swept under the rug.
 
On my way home, I saw a train leave Muttart getting ready to cross the Tawatina bridge. I saw another train crossing at 100 Street. It looks like testing in the tunnel to downtown.
 
dkazzed said:
Canada Line was also full P3. The Evergreen Extension of the Millennium Line completed in 2016 was a P3 but I think it may have only covered design build finance as it was integrated into an existing system where they owned their own rolling stock and maintenance equipment and facilities, that cost $1.4 billion for 10.9 km.
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It is hard to compare.

I'm just glad it is getting built.
 
BASE said:
With the pier repairs completed you would think coming up on mid January we would have an update on what is left to complete to get started. The fact we haven't worries me a great deal.

They also made mention of needing to come to an agreement with the city on the look of the repairs. Wonder if we will hear anymore on that or if it will be swept under the rug.
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The last commentary they made about repairing the piers seemed quite optimistic, but I am/have become quite cynical about all of this and am wondering if it was overly optimistic.

If there is an update soon, perhaps we will get a better sense of where things are at.
 
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