CANADA: An agreement defining stakeholders’ responsibilities for the development of the Québec City tram project has been signed.
The signatories were the city council, public infrastructure developer CDPQ Infra and the province’s Ministry of Transport & Sustainable Mobility, which said each partner now has a clear mandate to move the project forward.
The first line of the tramway, which has been named TramCité, will run 19 km from Le Gendre to Charlesbourg, via Sainte-Foy, Université Laval, Parliament Hill and Saint-Roch with 29 stops and an underground section.
CDPQ Infra had been asked to look at options for development after a previous plan collapsed in 2023.
The new agreement signed on December 16 sets out the responsibilities of the stakeholders, along with project governance and scope.
The province will be the project owner and define the objectives, timelines and budget. CDPQ Infra will be responsible for project management. The city will be a partner and beneficiary, undertaking land acquisition and preparatory works, supporting CDPQ Infra and providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for access to municipal services.
Opening is envisaged for 2033, with urban transport operator Réseau de transport de la Capitale to be the future owner and operator.
CDPQ Infra will now set up a project team and begin technical studies. Procurement will use a co-development approach, working with suppliers to establish a target price and schedule by the end of the planning phase in 2027.
CDPQ Infra President & CEO Jean-Marc Arbaud said this approach would reduce the risks and costs, and ’at the end of rigorous planning, we will be able to confirm to the government a competitive target price and a schedule representing the best possible deadlines’.
Minister of Transport & Sustainable Mobility Geneviève Guilbault said ‘today, we are confirming a partnership to establish a concrete, realistic and collaborative plan to deliver the tramway’.
Mayor Bruno Marchand said the agreement ‘is an irreversible milestone in the construction of the tramway, and all citizens of the greater Québec City region benefit from it. Thanks to the construction of TramCité, Québec City will benefit from immense economic spinoffs and a network that will reduce congestion and accelerate urban development.’
