Edmonton City Council requests more funds to offset inflation costs caused by delays in the subway line

EDMONTON – Taxpayers will have to solve their problems to fix the Edmonton light rail problem, as councilors voted Wednesday an indefinite budget gap to offset the costs of ongoing delays.

"It should not be surprising that with delays and with the challenges we have had, we have additional costs for consultants on our side, some of which might be able to recover in time through the conflict … "Mayor Don Iveson, addressing the media outside boardrooms on Wednesday,

Multinatio France's Thales has been awarded the $ 55 million contract for the signaling system in May 2011.

The City of Edmonton issued a notice of default to Thales in May, triggering a process Dispute Settlement Mechanism, which will end either by Thales, which will deliver by the end of the year a signal system meeting the initially promised standard, or with the city that will lease another LRT Metro Line [19659002Thenewmetroline-linkingthehealthsciencestationandtheNAIstation-usestraincontroltechnologythatcommunicatesbetweenthetrainandthetrackwhiletheexistinglineusesfixedsignagesystemthatdividesthewayintoblocksensuringthatthereisatleastoneemptyblockbetweenthetrains

The new signaling system was supposed to allow trains on the subway line to sneak between the Capital line trains. This means that overlapping trains will arrive trains every two and a half minutes

. However, problems with the new signaling system have slowed down the frequency of trains on the Capital line and caused frustration for motorists at intersections.

The subway project was to be completed in 2014.

"Whatever the solution, we will have a resolution early in 2019," said Adam Laughlin, director of the city's infrastructure department.

Iveson stated that because of the legal process triggered by the default notice, he is unable to say how much money will be needed to cover these additional costs. Once the problem is resolved, Mr. Iveson said, all the numbers will be made public.

"I want to make it clear that the board has approved today that we may have to spend a little more money to arrive at the line. This should not be a huge surprise given the complexity we have had here, "said Iveson. "The exact amount we will have to invest to get to the finish line is still negotiable."

The mayor said the city will work to recover these additional costs, which include consulting fees and the money needed to identify an alternative signaling solution if Thales can not deliver by the end of the year.

"We are going to work to recover all possible costs through the legal mechanisms that are taking place," Iveson said, adding, "The money that this council has spent today does not make any money. Thales is not for the contractor.This would be other costs of the city related to the completion of the project until the finish line. "

The project is still far from the original estimate of $ 900 million established when the board approved the construction of the new line Iveson said, but the surplus has already been allocated to other projects in the city such as the SmartFare system.

"We made big savings, but we sent that money elsewhere. Mr. Laughlin stated that Mr. Thales had accepted a revised schedule that would complete the signaling system on the subway line by the end of the year, but the city should at least 12 additional weeks tests to confirm that the signaling system complies with the original standard.

If Thales can not meet this standard before the end of the year, the municipal authorities will propose an alternative.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure that if Thales does not succeed, we have a system in place," said Laughlin

Claire Theobald is an Edmonton reporter who covers the crime and crime. courts. Follow her on Twitter: @clairetheobald