Evergreen Line delayed again, now slated to open in early 2017
TransLinks’s Evergreen Line from VCC-Clarke Station in Vancouver to Lafarge Lake-Douglas Station in Coquitlam is has been delayed again.
The costly underground and elevated rail project will not begin operations until early 2017 now, according to the latest update from the B.C. government. It was originally set to open in summer 2016, then was pushed to fall 2016.
Further delays will increase the bill for for SNC Lavalin, the private contractor hired to design and build the line, which is on the hook for any additional costs associated with delays. In August of this year, Lavalin reported a $26.9 million loss in the second quarter within the company’s Infrastructure & Construction division in part due to delays in the tunnel boring process.
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The two-kilometre-long tunnel boring project for the Evergreen Line began in March 2014 and was originally scheduled for a completion in approximately 200 days. Today, some 620 days later, the tunnel boring was complete, ending at at the intersection of Kemsley Avenue and Clarke Road.
“Celebrating the completion of the tunnel boring work today is a great milestone for the project and for the communities this line will serve,” said Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Stone. “The Evergreen Line project is more than 75% complete, and the work to finish the line, including the tunnel, is well underway. Once Evergreen is complete, B.C. will have the longest, fully automated rapid transit network in the world.”
Funding for the Evergreen Line project is a partnership between the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia and TransLink, costing $1.43 billion. Once complete, passengers will be able to travel between Vancouver and Coquitlam in less than 35 minutes.
Editor’s Note: The Evergreen Line will open in early 2017, not summer 2017 as previously stated.
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