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“On behalf of TransEd, I want to say how disappointed we all are,” TransEd CEO Ronald Joncas said Wednesday.
Publication date:
August 10, 2022 • 2 hours ago • 4 minutes read • 19 comments Edmonton’s $1.8 billion Southeast Valley LRT line delayed once again for a while indefinitely due to cracks in many of the LRT track’s support piers, it was announced Wednesday. , August 10, 2022. Photo by Larry Wong / Postmedia
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Edmonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT will no longer open this summer, and it’s unclear how long the latest setback will last.
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Standing at the yet-to-open Davies LRT station on Wednesday, TransEd LRT General Manager Ronald Joncas said cracks were discovered in many of the concrete piers under elevated LRT tracks. Crews are now working to determine the cause and additional construction will be needed to strengthen the piers.
There are 18 docks that may need fixing. This is more than a third of the 45 piers of the new line.
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Valley Line Southeast LRT Delayed Again to Q1 2022 as a Result of COVID-19 Impacts, Long Tests
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Opening of the $1.8 million Edmonton Valley LRT in Southeast delayed for third time to summer 2022
“On behalf of TransEd, I want to say how disappointed we all are and that we deeply regret the inconvenience this unfortunate and regrettable delay may cause Edmontonians,” Joncas said.
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The company won’t be able to offer a revised opening date until it finishes analyzing the problem over the next few weeks, and then decides on a design to fix it. The piers are still safe to walk and drive under, according to Joncas.
The 13-kilometer southeast line, the city’s largest infrastructure project to date, was due to be operational in December 2020 after construction began in spring 2016. The 11-stop line will from Mill Woods to downtown and is the first stage. of the Valley Line, with the western line to Lewis Farms in the early stages of construction.
This is the fourth time the southeast opening has been pushed back. TransEd said late last year that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused further delays, but trains would be running by the summer of 2022.
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The project is a public-private partnership, or P3, and under the terms of the contract with the City of Edmonton, TransEd is responsible for engineering and construction. The company will bear the costs of this delay, as well as additional construction work to strengthen the piers.
TransEd LRT CEO Ronald Joncas said on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 that the $1.8 billion Southeast Valley LRT line was once again delayed indefinitely due to from cracks in many of the LRT track support piers. Photo by Larry Wong / Postmedia
Testing on parts of the LRT line will continue, but train movement on the elevated track is currently suspended.
Joncas said they are investigating thermal expansion — the metal in the piers expanding and contracting with temperature fluctuations — as the cause of the problems. The problem could be in the rails at the top of the platform, but the study is still ongoing.
“Thermal expansion or temperature difference in Edmonton has been considered in our design since day one,” Joncas said.
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“What has happened now is that the behavior of what we found is different from our models.”
The cracks were first discovered around July 16 by city inspectors. Adam Laughlin, the city of Edmonton’s deputy director of integrated infrastructure services, said TransEd informed them last week that the problem would require “significant” repairs.
“Frustrating, disappointing”
Coun. Keren Tang’s Karhiio Ward covers many of the southeast neighborhoods waiting for LRT service, but that anticipation keeps turning to disappointment.
She said shortly after she was elected last year, she heard from an elderly couple who couldn’t wait to get on the train from the Gray Nuns stop.
“They were asking if they could be the first group of people to get on the train and experience it. Since then, I think about them all the time,” Tang said.
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“These are people who want LRT, people who are already very committed to public transportation as good for our city. And I’m concerned about how (delays in) this project could affect public procurement of public transit systems.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said the latest delay makes for a “frustrating, disappointing and sad day for Edmontonians.”
He wants city staff to review the management of P3 projects, saying they come with oversight problems and a lack of transparency. The City Council decided in 2012 to make Valley Line Southeast a P3 in order to take advantage of federal government funding.
“TransEd as a public-private partnership has not delivered this project as expected. They are responsible for this and will be responsible for finishing the work and opening a line that is safe for everyone,” Sohi said .
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“They are responsible for all cost overruns if there are any… But that is no consolation to the people who have been waiting for this LRT for 30 years.”
Tang said the situation challenges public confidence in P3 models for large capital projects.
“It really makes me wonder, is this the best investment for the public sector? Next, whenever something like this comes up again, I’m certainly going to be very skeptical of it.”
Métis county of the neighborhood. Ashley Salvador also represents many communities waiting for access to the Southeast Valley Line.
“I share some of those concerns about having additional oversight,” he said.
“I’m looking for certainty as to when we can finally put this critical piece of infrastructure together.”
City Manager Andre Corbould said reviewing the management of major projects will provide lessons for future work on the West Valley Line LRT.
But he stressed that Edmonton taxpayers are not on the hook for the latest LRT delay.
“In terms of P3, this deficiency is the responsibility of TransEd. Of course, we as a community are the ones at a disadvantage.”
Edmonton’s $1.8 billion Southeast Valley Line LRT is once again delayed indefinitely due to cracks in many of the LRT track’s support piers. Photo by Larry Wong / Postmedia
masmith@postmedia.com
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