[frinkprof]

New CEO of Calgary's Green Line confident downtown tunnel can go ahead


The new CEO of the $5.5-billion Green Line said that conditions beneath downtown Calgary aren't ideal but they shouldn't derail the construction of a new CTrain tunnel.
Darshpreet Bhatti was hired as the new public face of the megaproject last summer.


His responsibilities include ensuring the City of Calgary has good relations with stakeholders along the Green Line route and with contractors who will design and build the project.


One of the first things he did after moving from the Toronto area to Calgary was to pore over the work already completed in preparation for the eventual construction of the Green Line.


Concerns have been raised by Green Line opponents in recent years about the technical challenges of building a two-kilometre CTrain tunnel under the city's downtown core.
His conclusion: the tunnel can be built.


"The soil conditions in downtown Calgary are not the most ideal for the type of work we need to do, so we have to be cognizant of those risks and manage them carefully," said Bhatti.


However, he doesn't believe there's any legitimate reason that the underground portion of the line should not go ahead.


"I don't think that there's anything that's raised a flag to me to suggest that the construction is not even viable."


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Technical experts have ruled out using a tunnel boring machine to help build the underground portion of the line, so the more conventional "cut and cover" method will be used.


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The downtown tunnel will stretch from the transit bus barn in Victoria Park though the Beltline, under the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline and below Second Street S.W. before the line emerges in Eau Claire.


He said public communication will be key because this will be a major inconvenience in the core.


"We're basically doing open heart surgery in the downtown of a major metropolitan city and disruption will come," said Bhatti.


[...]


The procurement process for determining who will build the LRT line itself was forced to restart following a lengthy negotiation with the provincial government on funding for the project.


The Green Line board says $675 million has been spent on the project already, primarily for land acquisition, engineering work as well as preparation work along the alignment for construction.


Bhatti estimates it could take until the fall of 2023 or early 2024 before main construction on the Green Line begins.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...nnel-1.6251636