As usual, I will be the Grumpy Gus about ML's project reporting
Metrolinx refuses to publish timeline or even Phase milestones (let alone scope definitions) for anything. Lots of stuff is happening out there, sure, but how much have any of its projects advanced towards an end state? And are any long-lead project elements - which become more important as projects advance, because these lead times then define the closest possible completion dates - at risk? Have any end dates moved (forward or backwards) from last quarter? (Do we even have end dates?)
This kind of activity-based reporting, where you report whatever great things have been accomplished lately with no reference to overall project metrics, would have gotten me fired in my career (although I tried it a few times). The people I reported to were far too clever to buy that kind of story - if ML's Board is competent, I would expect a lot of hard questions being asked. If we saw more evidence of that, we might trust more.
The Barrie line is a good example. Certainly there is all sorts of fence construction and grading happening..... but the fences have gaps, the grading has gaps..... hard to discern a "Phase I" that has actually finished. Just more new starts announced and celebrated, and then work moves on somewhere else. leaving things that will take longer (like the larger culverts) unstarted, and hence despite all the work we are no closer to the end date..
ML also has a real "Project Based ADD" where they celebrate that new things are starting to the exclusion of things not yet completed. There is no discipline to revisit work in progress to show that it is advancing.
The item about East Harbour is interesting. Sounds like this will be one of the most major sub-projects on the Ontario Line and has many preparatory steps before shovels hit the ground. It would be interesting to see the timeline for this element placed next to the timeline for Osgoode Station. One has to wonder if that comparison would show that there is all the time in the world to find a better station design for Osgoode without compromising the in-service date for the Ontario Line.
I know
@crs1026 like to keep tabs on the numbers below and so I will bring them forward:
Fully consistent with the last quarter's numbers, and most importantly there is no sign that anything has been dropped from scope.
The "Early Works" envelope is now more than half spent. It's fair to ask if the results achieved match the intended or actual spend to date.
People asking about the fate of Smarttrack will be reassured that the line item for SmartTrack stations is still there - with about $1.3B yet to be spent.
- Paul