Michael Morgan briefed the city’s finance and economic development committee on Friday on the work being done on all of the city’s railroad projects. It’s three days since East-West Connectors (EWC), the makers of the Confederation Line East-West Stage 2 extension, said the more complex west and tunnel may be behind the targeted 2025 start date due to supply chain problems and labor shortages. Morgan told the committee Friday afternoon that EWC reports now provide for a 101-day delay in delivering the extension. “In the market right now, there’s a lot of pressure on the supply of reinforcing bars, a lot of pressure on the supply of concrete. And you need a lot of that stuff to build the tunnel,” Morgan said. The EWC is reviewing its forecasts, he added, with the next update scheduled for July. PHOTOS A panoramic view of the project for the Confederation and Trillium lines:
There is probably no O-Train until August 2023
The City Council had already heard that the extension of the North-South Trillium Line would not be completed by May 2023 at the earliest, nine months after the initial August 2022 deadline set in this convention. The $ 1.6 billion project is being built by contractor Transit NEXT, a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin. A completion date in August 2023 is now more likely, Morgan said, although the city was “working with them to see what they can do to bring it back.” If SNC-Lavalin completes most of the construction this year, as their goal is, it will allow the city to focus on testing the line in 2023, Morgan said. “Depending on the performance of the system and the reliability of the system, we will be able to evaluate at this point what a realistic start date is,” he said. A masked pedestrian passes in front of a Gladstone Avenue billboard advertising the southern extension of the Trillium O-Train line last fall. (Trevor Pritchard / CBC)
Advisers point out noise concerns
Several councilors asked Morgan questions about the new schedules, including the Bay ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, whose wing will have seven stations as soon as the western extension opens. “It simply came to our notice then [whether there] “He will be in a hurry – because one of the issues we had, as far as the residents are concerned, is the overnight work and these pressures to cover the time,” he said. “This is in people’s yards, and this is very, very noisy and very close to them.” Kitsisipi Coun. Jeff Leiper also expressed concern about the impact of Western LRT construction noise on residents, saying he would not be “willing to provide noise exemptions”. “Hopefully they will be able to cover some time,” he said. Morgan did not point out any delays on Friday as the Confederate Line extended eastward to Orleans. The EWC said it expects this extension to be ready by 2024.
