O-Train Stage 2 budget cracks $5B as delays and legal fees push up cost
Price tag originally set at $4.7B, but council once again asked to top up contingency buffer
Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News
Posted: Nov 19, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
The city is asking for $156.5 million in extra funding for the O-Train next year as delays and legal fees push up costs, while a contingency buffer needs to be padded again.
The funding is part of the 2026 draft municipal budget. Most of it would go to Stage 2, which was approved in 2019 with a price tag then estimated at $4.66 billion.
The latest request, which still needs council approval, isn't the first time the project budget has swelled. OC Transpo media relations confirmed to CBC that it now stands at $5.06 billion.
Stage 2 involves three extensions to the existing rail network, including links to the east and west that are still underway, plus the Trillium Line expansion to the south that opened more than two years behind schedule.
The draft budget document released last week says delays to all three extensions "have introduced pressures on the project oversight budget," while project changes, risks and claims require more funding for contingency.
It asks for an extra $150 million in response, plus a separate sum of $6.5 million to cover costs for the existing Stage 1 rail line.
The Stage 2 contingency was initially set at just over three per cent of total project costs, or about $152 million, as a cushion against price increases and potential legal disputes.
It was later increased to about $287 million due to "unforeseen costs and improvements," but all but $18 million of that money was committed as of this September.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/o-...ys-and-legal-fees-push-up-cost-9.6983475
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