Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton

EdwardEdm said:
Same tracks yes.

Maybe, maybe not. While in all likelihood TransEd will be running the WLRT as well, that doesn't necessarily mean they will also be contracted to maintain the Rotem fleet. Given the separate facilities, Edmonton could choose to maintain the cars in house, contract out to someone else. I was surprised to find out that there will be a separate AVIS shed for the Stage 2 facilities, rather than using the existing AVIS.

Well no, because there is the storage facility at Lewis Farms.
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According to the project agreement, the second Avis is because it would be awkward to move both sets of train on a single track (as the AVIS leads right into OMF A). You would figure the city / transed would have planned the location of the VLSE AVIS to better accommodate the west…
 
Whewww! Too see the boondoggle happening in YYC now with their Green line. I am sssssooo glad we’re getting a 27Km line for under $5B! Compared to their 10Km / $6.2B fragmented line. How can they justify $600M/Km?! Mind blowing shit!
 
I'm glad the only cost overruns for us were for the Capital Line extension. I would hate it there were scope reductions for the Valley Line. Genuinely feels like we dodged a bullet there based on sheer timing (and the fact that for some reason, the Green Line is heavily politicized)
 
MacLac said:
Whewww! Too see the boondoggle happening in YYC now with their Green line. I am sssssooo glad we’re getting a 27Km line for under $5B! Compared to their 10Km / $6.2B fragmented line. How can they justify $600M/Km?! Mind blowing shit!
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Looking back, VLSE really was great value for money, considering it included tunneling, a beautiful river crossing bridge, 12 stations (including an elevated one), and 30 years of O&M for $1.8b.

Gotta think TransEd completely lost their shirt on this. No idea how they could have turned any sort of profit after all the construction issues + inflation. Per their original agreement, I believe they were supposed to forfeit a few million every month that it wasn't open as well (albeit likely COVID invoked some fore majeur protection).
 
Kosy123 said:
I'm glad the only cost overruns for us were for the Capital Line extension. I would hate it there were scope reductions for the Valley Line. Genuinely feels like we dodged a bullet there based on sheer timing (and the fact that for some reason, the Green Line is heavily politicized)
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Perhaps the more modest cost in comparison made it easier for politicians to go ahead with our LRT expansion, whereas the more expensive Green Line seemed to cause more hesitation and delay and is now facing an even higher cost. And yes there was and is a lot of political bs involved with it too.
 
Kosy123 said:
I'm glad the only cost overruns for us were for the Capital Line extension. I would hate it there were scope reductions for the Valley Line. Genuinely feels like we dodged a bullet there based on sheer timing (and the fact that for some reason, the Green Line is heavily politicized)
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The bullet dodging in Edmonton started back in the 70s when we decided to tunnel the Capital Line downtown.
 
The Green Line is a terrible design to compared to the Valley Line or the Capital Line.

It's like they decided to pick the worst aspects of both and combine them into a frankensubway.

The Green Line will NEVER have the capacity potential of the Capital Line subway area.

I'm actually pretty happy with how the central areas of Edmonton's Valley Line is turning out. I'll be using it a ton once it's 100% done.
 
One argument I’ve heard that’s interesting is that we should have done the valley lines as true trams. Do the “festival line” and 124th street and 118th ave type routes to serve the central city. Then anything going outside of the original ring road should be skytrain style, automated light rail or metro approach.

Cause the biggest downside with the valley lines will definitely be speed and capacity for the suburbs and no alternatives will be built anytime soon transit wise.
 
MacLac said:
Whewww! Too see the boondoggle happening in YYC now with their Green line. I am sssssooo glad we’re getting a 27Km line for under $5B! Compared to their 10Km / $6.2B fragmented line. How can they justify $600M/Km?! Mind blowing shit!
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Interesting to read about the outcome of this heavily scaled down project. The city had to come up with an extra $700M on top of what was already committed for this watered down phase. That city seems to have a lot of money available given some of the major projects happening there.
I read about a grand central train station planned near their arena that the province has highlighted in its master rail transportation plan.

Maybe this has been talked about, but is there a similar provincial plan for a grand central station in Edmonton that would tie in our lrt with commuter and intercity rail, and if so, where is the planned location?
 
northlands said:
Looking back, VLSE really was great value for money, considering it included tunneling, a beautiful river crossing bridge, 12 stations (including an elevated one), and 30 years of O&M for $1.8b.

Gotta think TransEd completely lost their shirt on this. No idea how they could have turned any sort of profit after all the construction issues + inflation. Per their original agreement, I believe they were supposed to forfeit a few million every month that it wasn't open as well (albeit likely COVID invoked some fore majeur protection).
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Does the $1.8b include operations though? Maybe it includes a base level of service, but in 2021 Council agreed to fund an increased service level at around $2-3 million per year which now provides us with about half of the trains being 2 cars. Certainly that, and any future increases, are over and above the $1.8b.
 
Avenuer said:
The Green Line situation is turning into a bigger debacle then the delays to the Valley Line SE construction and the Green Line isn't even under construction yet. I wonder if it ever will be at this point lol
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Yikes!! So the Green Line is now going to cost nearly $1B more while cutting the number of stations, length, and ridership in half?
One underground station is being deferred and a second brought to surface-level, i.e. now only two underground stations on a shorter line with a $6.25B price tag??

....and here I thought Edmonton had major infrastructure project delivery issues
 
That's... awful...

Heritage Valley just started construction at a cost of $300m/km including the recent cost increase and an OMF. Metro Line is a similar length and it could double to $600m/km and still be $2.7 billion.

Is it the tunnel? If it's going to cost them several billion to tunnel, just tunnel the much busier blue and red lines and keep the green line at grade.
 
dkazzed said:
That's... awful...

Heritage Valley just started construction at a cost of $300m/km including the recent cost increase and an OMF. Metro Line is a similar length and it could double to $600m/km and still be $2.7 billion.
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That cost estimate for Metro Line NW sounds about right. It's a mere extension (not a new line) that includes one underpass (137th Ave), just like the Capital Line South, and even with the looooong bridge over Walker (analogous to the two bridges on CLSE), it can't possibly go above a $2.5 billion price tag. Although I do think they need to add another underpass at Castle Downs Road (so that trains don't block two major arterials on a very tight turn), so that'll push the price tag up.
 
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