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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

Summarizing:
  • Verster:
    • They now have an internal schedule for all project elements, but will not announce a date as a result of recurring issues encountered during testing & commissioning
    • Commit to progress updates every two months
  • Technical update given on testing & commissioning problems thus far:
    • Issues with signaling requiring software updates, which require tests of their own
    • Widely discussed track issues
    • Groundwater penetration of stations and tunnels
    • Sloane stop repairs
    • Generally vague, but clear that process is not near completion
  • Remaining construction:
    • 400m of surface remaining to complete
    • Yonge and Eglinton is primary focus of remaining construction (watermains, road resurfacing)
    • "The stations look to be complete" barring testing and commissioning
  • Station occupancy permits:
    • Received for most surface stops
  • Other minor updates
  • Q&A:
    • Verster refuses to give a date due to lack of progress (mentions fleet and signaling issues), commits to giving a date upon completion of testing & commissioning phase and updates every two months (including quantitative updates on testing & commissioning)
    • Recent ruling that CTS litigation in May will be addressed through arbitration
    • Re-emphasizes that Metrolinx has an approximate date internally, but defects/issues mean lack of confidence in any date given to the public
      • Presumably this is an indication that "no credible plan" is no longer the Metrolinx position.
    • Couple of confrontational questions, Verster responds that he's accountable to Ministry and that new bimonthly presentations are a step up in transparency
    • Total budget (previously reported): $12 billion, currently at $12.56 billion
    • On Finch: Significant progress made, but all projects have been impacted by COVID (touts progress on various other projects)
    • "We're not that far away" on ECT, but ML must be confident on date before announcing
    • Testing & commissioning dashboard will be updated every two months, but not in real-time
    • ML and collaborators are committed to delivering projects as soon as possible
    • 1400 defects and deficiencies have been addressed, but new ones are discovered over time (general error, technical issues, miscommunications).
    • ML must be meticulous in "getting it right"
    • Do not draw conclusions from "every two months" (i.e. extrapolating out to much longer delay)
    • Commits that ECT will open "flawlessly" (EDIT: journalist asked whether Verster would stake his reputation upon it, Verster responds affirmatively)
    • Groundwater issues specifically mentioned at Keelesdale
 
In one answer, he also stated that the up-to-date progress dashboard would be made public. Guessing this just means they’ll update every two months and release the presentation slides unfortunately.
 
Nice summary by voilan above. My general take for what its worth.

Mr Verster was being a little too defensive initially but he softened up towards the end. I think that the project is close but anytime there is a software issue, there could be alarm bells going off on timelines. The physical side of the project has been largely overcome if not completed (other than surface works) which is a technicality for this project.

If the software is successfully rectified, I can see this moving quite quickly. Certainly not beyond 2024.

Still infuriating that he refused to commit to even an estimate. Could have easily set expectations appropriately IMO.
 
lexaprofessional said:
pretty massive blunder by Phil here I think, 2024 is quite comfortable, even accounting for significant delays and defects.
Click to expand...
tbh, he should have said that the training/commissioning phase is scheduled to take 6 months (assuming nothing goes wrong), and according to the dashboard, we are at least 20% of the way through.

1695837100903.png
 
They now have an internal schedule for all project elements, but will not announce a date as a result of recurring issues encountered during testing & commissioning
Click to expand...

I'm just speculating, but it sounds like something similar to my understanding of the situation with the Confederation Line in Ottawa, where there are serious issues preventing the normal operation of the line that they're struggling to correct and that will potentially require a large investment of time and money to fix.
 
reinventingthewheel said:
In one answer, he also stated that the up-to-date progress dashboard would be made public. Guessing this just means they’ll update every two months and release the presentation slides unfortunately.
Click to expand...
My interpretation of this back-and-forth was that these updates were open to the press to be reported and thus were "made public". Quite explicit that the dashboard will be released ONLY at the updates every two months.
 
DopeyFish said:
lmao the press are going IN

this is getting spicy

project is at $12.56 billion right now
Click to expand...
To be fair, I hate that all these projects include the 30 year price tag. Inflation screws up past project numbers and those didn’t even include the lifetime costs. So people will say like we built the subway line for eight dollars in 1950 😂
 
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