Calgary’s $6.25 billion southeast LRT project will officially break ground later this month, signalling the construction launch of the beleaguered transit line.
Members of Calgary’s Executive Committee heard news of the start during a Green Line update delivered Tuesday by Green Line Southeast LRT project director, Wendy Tynan.
While the Green Line has been in progress for several years, with ongoing enabling works and utility relocation, the latest development means they’ll get into the ground on schedule this year.
“Southeast project is funded, the team is ready to go, design is advancing, and we’re excited to get construction underway before the end of this month,” Tynan told reporters after delivering her report to the committee.
This is the first in a series of regular updates that were promised as part of the project approval. In it, city administration confirmed that there is $6.248 billion in committed funding.
Five elements of the Southeast Project are beginning procurement and are ready for construction at the end of Q2 2025.
Also underway is further utility relocation work on 2 Street SW, which will happen through Q1 2027.
Fabrication of the light-rail vehicles is also on track, with the main body being added to the cars. Delivery of the LRVs expected within two years, Tynan said that’s dictated some of the more urgent construction areas.
A maintenance facility planned for Shepard.
“We need a place to put the vehicles. Then, once the vehicles arrive, we need to make sure that we have enough test track built so that we can begin the testing and commissioning phases,” said Tynan.
“Those pieces drive part of the decision-making of some of the work that will begin first in the southeast, around Shepard, and further up.”
The project has spent $104 million in 2025, with another $30 million to $40 million a month for the rest of the year.
Construction seasons dictate other segments of the Green Line
Tynan said that while they may start work in the far southeast, it doesn’t mean they’ll build in a straight line right to the end of the current project: The Event Centre.
“We have a number of bridges that we need to balance out when the fish allow us to do construction or not, and so that also becomes part of things,” she said.
“So, it’s not necessarily a building in a full sequence.”
Meanwhile, the City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta have established a governance and oversight delivery committee with the first meeting held on June 6.
Outreach is being done in the southeast near Barlow Trail and 114 Avenue SE, where the maintenance and storage facility is being built.
Engagement with businesses and residents along the rest of the route will begin in this summer.
The timeline for a provincial Grand Central Station terminus, which has been planned as a hub for regional rail and the launch point for a proposed downtown line, is unclear.
The proposed downtown segment is progressing through functional planning.
After years of twists and turns along with bumps and bruises, Tynan said that there’s a buzz growing over the project’s ceremonial start.
“It is so exciting. It has been a journey for Calgarians. It has been a journey for the number of team members that have been on the project,” she said.
“It is just so exciting to see that, after some bumps on the road… that we’re finally investing and being able to move forward in Calgary’s best future.”
Equally excited is Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, whose area will begin to see the early construction efforts.
“I’m tickled that we’re getting to watch the shovels go in the ground before the end of this term. So, looking forward to that date, and then we’ll just forget about all the other stuff that happened ahead of that,” he said.
