CANADA: The federal government has announced C$1·7bn of funding for the Hamilton Light Rail Transit project, matching Ontario’s C$1·7bn contribution to ensure that the proposed line can go ahead and will be long enough to be viable.
Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney said the funding commitment announced on May 13 would ‘ensure that we can get shovels in the ground as soon as possible for this critical transit project’.
The original Hamilton LRT proposal, approved by the province’s previous government, covered a 14 km line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square via central Hamilton with 17 stops. In 2018 Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx shortlisted three groups for a contract to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the planned line.
However, a review found that the project would be significantly more expensive than the C$1bn which had been allocated. A task force was set up to assess other options for spending the C$1bn on transport in Hamilton, and concluded that a truncated line funded solely by the province would not be long enough to be viable, while a longer line would be viable but would require federal funding.
The federal funding which has now been announced means the planned line will run for the full 14 km.
Hamilton LRT is Ontario’s fifth priority transport scheme, alongside the Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension, Eglinton Crosstown West Extension and the Yonge North Subway Extension.
