Council approves major changes to Calgary’s Green Line amid ballooning budget

City council has approved major changes proposed by Calgary’s Green Line LRT board for the first phase of the transit project, which has seen costs balloon to over $6 billion.

Council received an hours-long update behind closed doors Tuesday, before coming back to chambers for a fully public update. The city said the revision to the project will help address “the cost inflation that is impacting all major infrastructure projects across North America.”

The city said Wednesday it is investing another $705 million in the project, while simultaneously cutting down the projected budget.

“We reduced the projected financing costs from $640 million to $451 million, bringing the total capital budget for the Green Line to $6.248 billion,” explained Calgary Chief Financial Officer Carla Male.

Cuts in cost also mean changes to the route.

One of the approved changes includes building the core of the project from Eau Claire in downtown Calgary to Lynwood/Millican in the southeast. The line would connect with Calgary Transit’s Red and Blue lines in downtown Calgary and would include a new maintenance and storage facility at Highfield.

Previous plans had the first phase of the project going all the way south to Shepherd with five more stations in southeast. The board says the other stations could still be built when more funding is approved.

The recommendations also include deferring building a Centre Street Station in the Beltline and moving a station at 4 Street SE to above ground.

“The board is confident that revising the construction phasing is the best approach to control costs, mitigate risks and build the critical core of Green Line,” says Don Fairbairn, Chair of the Green Line Board in a statement.

“We appreciate that some Calgarians will be disappointed that they will have to wait longer for the new LRT service to reach their community but starting construction will lay a foundation for Calgary’s sustained growth and ensure the long-term benefits of housing, connectivity and ridership can be maximized.”

Mayor Jyoti Gondek says this was the likely outcome.

“It should not come as a surprise that we are unable to build as much of the Green Line as we thought was possible back in 2015,” she said.

Council voted 10-5 Tuesday on the realignment of the Green Line.

Cost over-runs have been a huge concerns for the $5.5 billion Green Line, designed to connect more of the city together through transit, but back in May, Ward 9 Councillor Gian Carlo Carra called the project essential.

“The best dollars we can spend in terms of moving Albertans and reducing carbon impact is building out Calgary’s CTrain system, that’s a need-to-have in terms of actual impact, a nice to have, in addition to that, would be regional rail,” he said.

WATCH: Alberta won’t fund additional costs for Calgary’s Green Line project

The province has said it wouldn’t fund any additional costs for the project. Premier Danielle Smith said this spring the decision shouldn’t come as a surprise, having raised the alarm on the cost needed to create a tunnel in Eau Claire.

“The alternative: an elevated line from the Event Centre to City Hall hub would avoid the costly tunnels, it would only cost $200 million which would save about $1.8 billion. So, if I know that, they know that, their administration knows that, and yet they decided to go ahead anyway,” she said.

More than $1.2 billion has already been spent on the first phase of the project, including the demolition of buildings along the routes, and the design work.

Councillors have said there needs to be some difficult conversations about the project, along with the possibility of some other projects getting the axe if the city can’t make it work.

The city says it will take until 2027 to complete phase one of the project.

-With files from Rayn Rashid