Work on Calgary’s southeast leg of the Green Line is still on track, with companies already short-listed for main construction work, which is set to begin in 2026.

The new Calgary city council got its first quarterly update on the $6.25 billion transit project during the Dec. 9, 2025, Executive Committee meeting.

Councillors heard that the southeast portion of the provincially mandated design is charging ahead, with construction contracts already awarded and others shortlisted for the 2026 construction season.

The southeast portion will have 16 kilometres of track, 10 stations, one maintenance and storage facility (MSF – at the 114 Avenue SE station), three park and rides and two river crossings, according to Green Line director Wendy Tynan.

The overall southeast project is being managed in smaller chunks, with five construction projects that made significant headway after the June 2025 groundbreaking. Those include the grading and site serving for the MSF, 114 Avenue and Barlow Trail piling work (MSF), the 78 Avenue LRT Bridge, Ogden Road realignment, and the Blackfoot Trail LRT bridge.

“I’m happy to share that two will be substantially complete, with just road paving that can only happen in the spring to take place,” said Tynan.

Those contracts were awarded to Calgary-based companies.

Pre-qualification on the main civil works projects was completed in the fall. The different civil works packages will be delivered based on the “project’s critical path,” according to Tynan.

“We have prioritized the work in the southeast, as the package from Shepard to Bow (River) will give us almost eight kilometers of continuous track,” she said.

Once Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) are delivered, each one needs to be tested for 1,000 kilometres before Calgary Transit approves them for riders. The LRVs are currently under construction, Tynan said.

At peak construction, the Green Line will need roughly 1,000 workers per day. They have been working with the local construction industry to build capacity in the workforce.

Since 2015, $1.6 billion has been spent towards the total project budget.

Working towards a downtown Green Line solution

Sarah Huber, director of project development, said that work continues on a validation exercise for the province’s elevated Green Line LRT concept through the downtown. She said the goal is prioritizing efficiency, cost, clarity and overall benefits to define success.

Huber said that they’re currently advancing the Aecom elevated LRT concept to the 10 to 15 per cent design stage. It was originally proposed as a more cost-effective option, though at only a five per cent design stage.

“This enables us to validate the provincial cost estimate and provide an updated cost and value narrative as part of our functional plan,” she said.

Work is ongoing to address council-directed priorities like noise, vibration, stormwater and property impacts, along with safety and traffic considerations, Huber said.

“These are essential to ensure that the alignment meets both technical standards and community expectations,” Huber said.

“For the technical criteria, our focus is on constructability, the identification, validation and mitigation of risk potential, plus-15 integration, urban integration beneath the guideway and ensuring reliable LRT operations.”

Huber told council that two white papers are underway; one is on the alignment constraints and fundamentals, the other on lessons learned from other elevated systems.

She said that pre-engagement with different stakeholders had already taken place, with a more formal engagement process slated to start in early 2026.

“For outreach and engagement, council has directed us to develop the functional plan for an elevated alignment that’s informed by engagement and has broad support from Calgarians and key interest holders,” Huber said.

Upcoming engagement will focus on what really matters to people in a downtown alignment, the perspectives behind the decisions and getting stakeholders beyond “yes or no” options.

Engagement fatigue?

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that many stakeholders have “daylighted serious concerns” about an elevated option through the downtown. But ultimately, moving forward with the project, getting the southeast built, then into downtown and to the north is the long-term goal.

“Overall, the business case for the Green Line in its current form is relatively weak, and for us to fully realize the business case we need to continue to build out to the far north and the far south,” he said.

“So, this gives us the ground to stand on in future conversations with the provincial and federal governments about finally finishing this project.”

Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos quizzed Huber on some of the engagement that’s been done up to this point on the downtown elevated option.

Huber said that generally speaking, there’s a consensus that the Green Line needs to get riders downtown. In its current form, riders would end their travel at the new Calgary Event Centre.

“In all of our pre-engagement conversations, the initial sentiment was doubt that an elevated alignment could work in our downtown,” she said.

“However, as those conversations unfolded, we felt that the interest holders shared ideas for potential ways to address their concerns on an elevated alignment, and that was where we began to see things open up, if I may, and that started to foster a sense of cautious optimism that a made-in-Calgary solution might be possible.”

There’s still a desire for different groups to be able the table, Huber said.

“We were a bit worried about engagement fatigue,” she said.

“These people have had the same conversation put in front of them numerous times; specific things that they want to engage on public realm design effects on property values and businesses and plus 15 connection opportunities amongst others.”

Upcoming engagement won’t go into the conversation with an iteration of the line; they’re using the province’s proposal as the baseline and working from there.

A full report on the downtown is expected by the end of 2026.