Rideau Transit Group awarded Ottawa light rail contract

Ottawa city staff will be recommending to city council that the international consortium known as the Rideau Transit Group be awarded the contract to design, build, finance and maintain the Ottawa Light Rail Transit. The consortium is made up of ACS Infrastructure Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Dragados Canada, EllisDon and Veolia Transportation Services.

“Council set a strong direction for this procurement to deliver an excellent light rail system that comes in on time and on budget. I am proud to say that we have succeeded,” said Ottawa mayor Jim Watson.

The consortium is made up of ACS Infrastructure Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Dragados Canada, EllisDon and Veolia Transportation Services.

Related:

Ottawa projects set to overlap

Ottawa construction outlook good: panel

Ottawa light rail project preliminary engineering ends

The project includes building and financing the Highway 417 widening project from the Nicholas Street on ramp to the split with Highway 174. It is expected to create approximately 20,000 jobs.

Rideau Transit Group’s proposal has construction substantially complete by the end of 2017 and in service by 2018. Construction is expected to begin next February. The group has agreed to a fixed price contract of $2.1 billion.

The new LRT will be named the Confederation Line and is funded by all three levels of government. The federal government will contribute $600 million through the Building Canada Fund, the City of Ottawa will allocate up to $192 million of it Gas Tax Fund transfers to the project and the provincial government is contributing $600 million. In addition, the city will allocate $287 million of Provincial Gas Tax receipts to the capital infrastructure. The remaining project budget funds will come from development charge revenues and transit reserves.

The city will host a number of design showcases for Ottawa residents to see Rideau Transit Group’s proposals first hand and have their questions answered by project staff. The staff recommendation will be reviewed by the Committee of the Whole on Dec. 12 and then by council on Dec. 19.

DCN NEWS SERVICES