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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 12:39 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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some more details in the Citizen:
Quote:
City reveals more cost-cutting measures for light rail
BY NECO COCKBURN, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN JULY 13, 2011 8:18 AM
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OTTAWA — A cheaper downtown tunnel route isn’t the only measure city staff have come up with to keep Ottawa’s light-rail project at its $2.1-billion price tag.
Revised plans for stations, including reduced platform lengths, and, in at least one case, putting off some costs until a later date are among ways the project has been changed in order to meet its budget.
A significant move would see changes phased in at Bayview Station, a major transfer point that will connect with the O-Train and a future north-south light-rail line as well as provide a potential future link with Gatineau.
A simpler station with two instead of three levels has been designed to serve only the needs of the current light-rail project “while providing for future provisions of station platforms to accommodate north/south connection when needed,” wrote Gary Craig, the city’s chief of rail engineering and maintenance, in an e-mail response to questions.
Staff say the phase-in minimizes property and construction costs. It also delays some costs until a future part of the city’s light-rail transit plans, although by just how long wasn’t immediately available.
Councillors on Thursday are to hear feedback from the public on the light-rail plans. City officials last week announced a major revision that moves the downtown tunnel portion of the 12.5-kilometre line to a straighter path under Queen Street. The tunnel would be shallower and more appealing to riders, officials said, and the city estimates it can be built for about $493 million, rather than $735 million.
And as previously announced, Campus Station has been moved from below ground to above ground, with engineers proposing to shorten the tunnel at its eastern end under the University of Ottawa, where soil conditions turned out to be sandier than expected.
A technical overview contains other changes aimed at cutting or controlling costs after a preliminary engineering team revisited previous assumptions and applied “innovation and creativity to modify the existing design to compress cost while maintaining or improving function,” Craig wrote.
Plans have changed for Blair Station, considered the major east-side hub between light rail and buses. Trains there are to run one level above buses, even though it was previously recommended that light rail operate below the buses.
Previous reports indicated concern that the “LRT on upper level” configuration didn’t leave enough space for anticipated bus volumes and passenger transfers. But as design work progressed, “it proved possible to increase the transit flow and integration while controlling costs by relocating the previously designed below grade (trenched) LRT section of the station to the surface,” Craig wrote. The move saves money because much of the existing infrastructure can be retained by keeping trains on top, staff say.
Previous plans indicated that many station platforms could eventually be lengthened to 180 metres as ridership increases and trains grow from four to six cars. The maximum platform length is now capped at 150 metres, with staff saying that detailed modelling based on information received from train suppliers has determined that projected peak ridership could be accommodated with 150-metre trains and platforms. Shorter platforms will also control costs, according to staff.
Platform configurations at some stations have been changed to separate east- and westbound “side” platforms instead of a “centre” platform layout in which people heading east and west would board trains from the same platform in the middle of the tracks.
Earlier reports indicated the centre platform configuration is the most efficient design. But the side platform configuration, used in other cities, was in some cases determined by the preliminary engineering team to be “optimal for function and maintains excellent safety characteristics,” Craig wrote.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citize
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/City+reveal...ht+rail/5092205/story.html#ixzz1RzMWDZ8G
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and the same old rant from Ken Gray:
Quote:
Through it all, rail cost magically remains the same
By Ken Gray, Ottawa Citizen July 13, 2011
The more things change on Ottawa's light-rail project, the more they stay the same.
Last week, Mayor Jim Watson with much fanfare told the public that the troubled rail plan had been drastically reshaped, but that its price would land exactly on $2.1 billion. Not $19.99, not $13.95. No, taxpayers, just one low price of $2.1 billion. No word yet if the mayor will throw in a K-Tel patty stacker or Ginsu knife with this amazing onetime offer.
Oh sure, there might be some doubters ... some glass-half-empty types who might say that this all sounds a little wobbly. That on the cusp of issuing the public bidding process to build a rail colossus, the tunnel just went from drilling 10 storeys down to four storeys despite having years to study the appropriate depth. Same goes for the street.
The tunnel is now burrowing below Queen Street rather than its previous big loop in the core. Why, the whole project just got a revolutionary facelift and, coincidentally, all this rejigging came out at the unbelievable low price of $2.1 billion.
What could go wrong? This is the same city staff that told Ottawa City Council two years ago that the price had to be raised astronomically because the tunnel must be lengthened past the University of Ottawa due to "geotechnical reasons."
Then, recently, the tunnel had to be shortened by one-third because unstable sand was shockingly found in Sandy Hill, but the price remained that same low $2.1 billion. Again staff cited "geotechnical reasons."
Remember that the Bob Chiarelli plan would have gone from Barrhaven to the U of O for $884 million while this tunnel and line only goes from Tunney's Pasture to Blair Road at much more than double the price. Better throw in two Ginsu knives with this deal.
And don't forget that this new Queen Street line is based on core drilling results that staff refused to release for weeks to the Citizen in a ridiculous access-to-information stonewall. Who's not to trust?
The difference is that this time, Mayor Jim Watson said the changes would all be OK. And Watson's word stands for a lot in this community. The mayor is part of the political elite in town that includes John Baird, the Chiarellis and all those McGuintys, so Watson has credibility. He oozes charm. If you were drenched outside and Watson read a weather report that said it was warm and sunny, you'd throw away your umbrella. Nothing sticks to Watson.
Unfortunately for Teflon Jim, this tunnel plan was devised originally by Velcro Larry O'Brien. Most everything stuck to O'Brien. When O'Brien and his council killed the first rail plan, he was stuck with no plan. After an aborted Mayor's Task Force that yielded little but derision, O'Brien decided to try a tunnel. So he got staff to produce a report that had a number of options: a tunnel, a tunnel, a tunnel and a tunnel. After much public consultation, Velcro Larry opted for a tunnel.
Now five years later, the tunnel hasn't been started, though it has been straightened, lengthened, shortened, raised, budgeted and rebudgeted - all by people who have less tunnelling experience than "Bombardier," my backyard groundhog, who destroys the perennial garden annually. After all this, oddly, Watson has accepted the view in a report by city staff that city staff has done an outstanding job costing and planning the lightrail project and that the price is exactly what it should be. Watson said, with all his salesmanship and charm, that staff is right. And by golly, city council, the pundits and public were giddy with glee.
And who knows? Maybe Watson is right. A broken clock is right twice a day. But His Worship forgets the lesson of ex-mayor Chiarelli whose top-notch surface rail plan came in after the RFP at one-third higher in cost than city staff estimated. That caused the public to get cold feet, giving mayoral candidates Larry O'Brien and Alex Munter an opportunity to say that Chiarelli's project was out of control.
Now a current tunnel plan, costing 130 per cent more than the out-of-control Chiarelli project, is straining to remain within its budget. Remember that during Watson's winning election campaign, the mayor said he would wait for the private bids to come in before deciding to go forward with the rail plan. And why not? Better to rely on the expertise of private international companies in competition who build these projects every day than City Hall guesstimators.
Now Watson has decided to take the word of a faulty staff over the likes of Siemens or Bombardier. His Worship has changed a winning strategy and in doing so has abrogated a prime adage in business and sports: never change a winning game. Teflon Jim may have made his first major blunder.
Ken Gray is a former member of the Citizen editorial board who writes a blog The Bulldog at ottawacitizen. com/bulldog. His column runs on Wednesdays. [email protected].
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Throug...ns+same/5093083/story.html#ixzz1RzlU3Xdb
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Last edited by McC; Jul 13, 2011 at 2:22 PM.
Reason: UPDATE
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