Ottawa Rapid Transit Network developments

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

The problem is that the tunnel and mined stations is 'only' about 1/3 of the project cost; the conversion to rail is the biggest part of the expense. If a cheaper tunnel option were built, then the savings would likely be in the range of a couple of hundred million dollars; mostly from less expesive (shallower) stations. Even going to a surface rail system would likely only save a few hundred million. (The increase in disruption to the downtown core would be significant with both of these options and the added mitigation costs could eat up a lot of the capital savings; not to mention the economic loses due to that disruption.) I will grant you that hundreds of millions of dollars are nothing to scoff at, but in the scale of this project, $300M is inside the contingence amount.

As Haydon said, building the tunnel and using it for buses as a first stage could be an option. Planning for a proper conversion plan and the lengthening of the line could be the next step. For example, money could gradually be spent over the next few years (while the tunnel is being dug, maybe) to straighten the 'kinks' in the Transitway so that conversion could be done without shutting down the buses, but by simply moving them to the shoulders while the rails are laid.

That's not the point. People are not quibbling about the conversion costs if they are mulling surface rail. It's the tunnel that they are using as a target.