Finch West Line 6 LRT

[urbanclient]

Yes, the total costs are for construction, maintenance, and operation.
The number taken was not the total cost, as is explicitly written in the note, but the incurred costs, aka the costs so far by the end of construction.*
The incurred costs by the opening is when construction is paid out, and maintenance and operation has not yet been paid out or started. Thus, Incurred costs can approximate the cost of construction.
Unless you are arguing that MX is paying for O&M before O&M began, or that MX is paying for construction after construction has finished. (The latter of which you would not, because that would make the costs of const. higher)
@urbanclient has already responded this to you (now twice). I am not sure why you are repeating it, again, without addressing the response.
If you are capable of sourcing a more accurate note that explicitly does not contain O&M, and is recent and up-to-date with cost escalations, I would be more than happy to adjust.

The source you have cited is from 2022, and states total cost of 2.5bn. MX in 2025 says 3.7bn total. Things change, and I am inclined to go with the more recent source.

* Yes the numbers are a few months off opening. I probably lose more accuracy to inflation than I do that, as the dollar sum is just summed of that dollar value, each year, which makes it impossible to properly inflate from one value.

Seconded, but they probably have me muted because they don't like reading novels.

If anything though, the $2.548 billion is probably an undercount, because it does not reflect the payment made upon substantial completion (November 12, 2025). They incurred more than $29 million in just Q3 on Line 6.

Now we know the 30 year contract was worth about $1 billion, so really, $2.5 billion for 'construction', not including stuff like contingency etc. is probably fairly accurate. I say this assuming the $500 million withheld until substantial completion is accurate, which would mean total costs incurred would be $3 billion by now, which seems too high because it would mean the maintenance contract is only worth $700 million. 3.7-2.5= $1.2 billion; 1.2-0.5=0.7 billion aka $700 million. IMO part of that $3 billion incurred costs is likely contingency or something, with most of the increase from the original $1.2 billion being due to variation procedures i.e. change orders, non-discretionary/discretionary changes, relief claims post-COVID etc.

Sources:
Table 1: CPG (Rapid Transit) Capital Projects Incurred Costs to June 30, 2025

https://assets.metrolinx.com/image/upload/v1757365661/Documents/Item_14.5_-_Capital_Projects_Rapid_Transit_-_FINAL_ENG_Mx.pdf

Table 1: CPG (Rapid Transit) Capital Projects Incurred Costs to September 30, 2025

https://assets.metrolinx.com/image/upload/v1763754630/Documents/Metrolinx/Item_13.5_-_Capital_Projects_-_Rapid_Transit_-_FINAL_ENG_Mx.pdf

"A sizeable payment will be made by the Province at substantial completion"

https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/contentassets/96f82a0f87c64b68b27d0400547f7993/vfm_finch_west_lrt_2018_en_final-s.pdf

https://globalnews.ca/news/10779971/finch-west-lrt-lawsuit-delays/

Meanwhile...

Section of Line 6 Finch West LRT shut down, delays on rest of line

The TTC says a section of Line 6 has been shut down, while delays are being reported on the rest of the line due to mechanical problems.

toronto.citynews.ca

 

[hawc]

This is the equivalent of buying a brand new car and it breaks down the moment you drive it off the lot and is in the shop repeatedly for weeks on end.

What's amazing is no one will get fired over it and it will never get fixed.

 

[Voltz]

This is the equivalent of buying a brand new car and it breaks down the moment you drive it off the lot and is in the shop repeatedly for weeks on end.

What's amazing is no one will get fired over it and it will never get fixed.

If only there is a lemon law clause in the contract

 

[mikey7767]

This is the equivalent of buying a brand new car and it breaks down the moment you drive it off the lot and is in the shop repeatedly for weeks on end.

What's amazing is no one will get fired over it and it will never get fixed.

That's what happens when you have big government. Too big for accountability.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

That's what happens when you have big government. Too big for accountability.

Incorrect! That's what happens when you have P3's and everyone ends up pointing fingers at each other. That model likely had a key role in transit costs spiraling out of control.

 

[Towered]

Clearly my smooth, 30 minute ride from end to end (twice in one afternoon!) was an anomaly. I'll avoid this line going forward, which thankfully will be easy because I have no reason to be in that part of the city anyway!

 

[TRONto]

If you're insisting that Line 6 Finch West cost only ~$100 million per km to construct, you are wrong.

What I'm stating is that I haven't seen anywhere that clearly states the construction costs aside to the original contract. The other numbers are inferred and could be accurate and obviously much likely to be closer but I can't see anything that one could point to with certainty. As per "If you are capable of sourcing a more accurate note that explicitly does not contain O&M, and is recent and up-to-date with cost escalations, I would be more than happy to adjust." I'm simply saying I haven't seen anything since that clearly states the construction cost numbers. For example, does the cited number include the cost of the maintenance facility? I can't tell.

 

[Voltz]

Clearly my smooth, 30 minute ride from end to end (twice in one afternoon!) was an anomaly. I'll avoid this line going forward, which thankfully will be easy because I have no reason to be in that part of the city anyway!

Buy some lottery tickets.

 

[urbanclient]

What I'm stating is that I haven't seen anywhere that clearly states the construction costs aside to the original contract. The other numbers are inferred and could be accurate and obviously much likely to be closer but I can't see anything that one could point to with certainty. As per "If you are capable of sourcing a more accurate note that explicitly does not contain O&M, and is recent and up-to-date with cost escalations, I would be more than happy to adjust." I'm simply saying I haven't seen anything since that clearly states the construction cost numbers. For example, does the cited number include the cost of the maintenance facility? I can't tell.

Unless someone decides to violate policy and/or their NDA to leak it, the numbers I inferred from in my last post are the closest any layperson is going to get. Here is the $[REDACTED] project agreement for the Finch West LRT from 2018 (frankly useless). Obviously subject to variations i.e. change orders.

https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/48e20f/contentassets/96f82a0f87c64b68b27d0400547f7993/finch-project-agreement-redacted.pdf

 

[EnviroTO]

Wow, line 6 is slower than a tram going though a pedestrianised environment. Talk about using speed reductions to limit risk to an extreme.

 

[Admiral Beez]

At this point i'm curious, what's the threshold for firing Mosaic as the maintenance provider? That's if the lost cause management fools at Metrolinx even provided for a clause for that in the contract.

We should fire the lot, and return ownership, operations and maintenance to the TTC. Better the devil we know.

 

[Northern Light]

Steve Munro has a piece up looking at all delays on this line from Dec 7th through Dec 31st.

6 Finch LRT Delay Data for December 2025

The TTC has now added 6 Finch to the collection of published delay data available on the City of Toronto’s Open Data site. See: LRT Delay Data Streetcar Delay Data The data are in a summary f…

stevemunro.ca

Some of the numbers are alarming in terms of frequency:

So three weeks into the line, we had 24 different instances of delay caused by switch failures! Holy @#$#

24 with HVAC, which I hope, at this time of year, means heating. In general the failure, I'm assuming, is either lack of heat, or the system overheating, neither is acceptable at this stage..........but 24 times in 3 weeks? That's more than 1 instance per day!

17 incidents with traction motors.......

6 for 'No equipment available??

Most of the 1s and 2s are things you can imagine coming up; even some of the 3s and 4s along with 'ill passengers' or the like.

But the number of mechanical faults either in the vehicles or the switches is really extraordinary to me.

Lots of issues w/brakes as well. Something I have heard is a possible issue coming up for Line 5 as well.

 

[urbanclient]

Steve Munro has a piece up looking at all delays on this line from Dec 7th through Dec 31st.

6 Finch LRT Delay Data for December 2025

The TTC has now added 6 Finch to the collection of published delay data available on the City of Toronto’s Open Data site. See: LRT Delay Data Streetcar Delay Data The data are in a summary f…

stevemunro.ca

Some of the numbers are alarming in terms of frequency:

View attachment 710318

So three weeks into the line, we had 24 different instances of delay caused by switch failures! Holy @#$#

24 with HVAC, which I hope, at this time of year, means heating. In general the failure, I'm assuming, is either lack of heat, or the system overheating, neither is acceptable at this stage..........but 24 times in 3 weeks? That's more than 1 instance per day!

17 incidents with traction motors.......

6 for 'No equipment available??

Most of the 1s and 2s are things you can imagine coming up; even some of the 3s and 4s along with 'ill passengers' or the like.

But the number of mechanical faults either in the vehicles or the switches is really extraordinary to me.

Lots of issues w/brakes as well. Something I have heard is a possible issue coming up for Line 5 as well.

Besides the 'will it fit' issue with potential future LRTs in Toronto... The bar is so low for Metrolinx and Canadian industry that we simply cannot expect high quality, reliable vehicles and wayside infrastructure. That low floor trams are inherently less reliable than high floor trams to begin with is made worse by this tofu-dreg quality.

Somebody bought a yacht and the general public got a turd.

 

[futurebound]

Wrong again - they DO have transit priority lights and… You’re obviously not a tax payer.

You've obviously never taken a viva bus then. The drivers watch the pedestrian countdowns like a hawk and will actively slow down before the yellow light. They sit behind left turning cars at lights.

And if you say these problems can be fixed, well, they can also be fixed for the LRT. Neither of this is a dig at BRT or LRT. The damn thing is already built. LRT works well when we don't bungle the execution with shitty signal priority and heaters. These aren't hard problems to fix, we just need the political capital behind it.

 

[6ixGod]

The headlines speak for themselves. You won’t find anybody in the GTA ever supporting LRTs ever again, what’s what I’m happy about.

The only people I feel sorry for are the residents of Finch West….people living paycheque to paycheque, choosing between groceries and gas every Friday, while a broken system treats their time and livelihoods as expendable and gaslighters constantly telling them that this is just temporary.

Shameless.