The Increasingly Exorbitant Cost of (Transit) Infrastructure

[urbanclient]

Honestly the 2022 estimate seems bogus in how high the contingencies and escalation is - I wouldn't be shocked to see it come down significantly

I don't have much faith the number will come down. To paraphrase the professor in the Flying Moose REM video, when escalation and contingency buffer are offered, they're almost certainly to be used.

 

[Northern Light]

I concur with @duffo that the contingency here is bloated, and should come down (its not the only project component for which this is an issue); the very notion that soft costs exceed hard costs is absurd.

Regrettably, I also concur with @urbanclient that they are unlikely to come down. Its not impossible to do, we certainly ought to try, and I would find it challenging to endorse this project unless they do. But there certainly are vested interests
that treat the public as saps to be milked, rather than citizens whose hard earned dollars ought to be used with care and integrity.

 

[rbt]

I don't have much faith the number will come down. To paraphrase the professor in the Flying Moose REM video, when escalation and contingency buffer are offered, they're almost certainly to be used.

View attachment 731526

Anyone know what Metrolinx is missing, or value engineered, in Systems? It's well below the Italy version with hard cost ratios normalized. Signals, communication, power, [anything else?] seem like they shouldn't be cheaper in Ontario.

 

[urbanclient]

Anyone know what Metrolinx is missing in Systems? It's well below the Italy version with hard cost ratios adjusted. Signals, communication, power, [anything else?] seem like they shouldn't be cheaper in Ontario.

It's not apples to apples, the definitions/categorization are different. The most useful comparison is proportion of soft costs vs. hard costs.

 

[rbt]

It's not apples to apples, the definitions/categorization are different. The most useful comparison is proportion of soft costs vs. hard costs.

And how do we know the delineation between soft and hard costs is the same? Design and Training for the signal system could either be a hard cost because it's included with the hardware purchase agreement or a soft cost from a separate consulting company.

Yes, Metrolinx clearly has a lot of consultant spending, but I still wonder just how much of that missing 15% from Systems is within Professional Services instead.