ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ZEBuilder]

Before everyone goes nuts that 4.5 billion is in 2033 dollars. If you look at cost in terms of 2025 dollars its only 3.1 billion which is insane yes but you need to look at other projects in Ontario to realize its one of the most sane cost estimates.

Phase 1 ION:
2011 cost was 818 million
2025 cost with inflation (and the 50 million overrun) is 1.2 billion
Cost per km: 63 million

Phase 2 ION:
2025 cost estimate 3.1 billion
Cost per km: 177 million

Phase 1+2:
2025 cost: 4.3 billion
Cost per km: 118 million

Hamilton LRT (no operating costs):
2021 cost estimate was 3.4 billion
2025 cost estimate with inflation is 4 billion
Cost per km (14km): 285 million

Hurontario LRT (current project not including operations):
2019 cost was 4.6 billion
2025 cost with inflation is 5.5 billion
Cost per km (18km): 306 million

Finch LRT (no operations in the contract):
2018 cost was 2.5 billion
2025 cost with inflation is 3.1 billion
Cost per km (11km): 282 billion

So yeah the cost is high but we're getting way more bang for our buck. If we were costing similar to Finch or Hamilton per km our phase 2 cost would have to be approaching 9 billion dollars. So sure its a high cost but its relatively reasonable all things considered.