Connecting Kingston to high-speed rail line expected to cost $3.9B: CTF
· Toronto Sun
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OTTAWA — The federal government’s high-speed rail plan is going off the rails before the first spike is even driven.
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That’s according to a new analysis of the costs associated with Canada’s fledgling high-speed railway ambitions by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), which said the government’s direction to add a stop in Kingston would add billions of dollars to the total.
“This project was already unaffordable for taxpayers with a $90-billion price tag and now it will cost billions more because the Carney government is adding an extra stop,” said the CTF’s Ontario director Noah Jarvis.
“The project hasn’t even started and it’s already obvious there will be huge budget overruns.”
Feds directed Alto to add stop
Last month, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon formally issued a directive to Alto — the Crown corporation tasked with planning and building the proposed 1,000-km high-speed railway between Toronto and Quebec City — to add a stop in Kingston.
MacKinnon’s announcement came with no figures on what the directive may do to the project’s cost, but analysis by the CTF determined that the stop would add at least 51.9 km to the line and an additional $3.9 billion onto the project’s price tag —roughly $75 million per kilometre.
The CTF is calling on Ottawa to derail the costly project, saying the government’s $60- to $90-billion estimates are likely to greatly increase as time goes on.
The CTF’s estimates are based on research released earlier this year by McGill University, which found the government’s proposal would require $53.1 billion in subsidies over 43 years.
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“The annual operating cost is estimated at $84,000 per km following similar case studies in North America, with a 1% annual increase, the average operating cost per year is $166.56 million,” the study said, explaining these figures are based on information released by Alto.
“After accounting for annual revenue and deducting capital repayment and operating loan payment costs, the projected subsidies required each year is around $1.28 billion.”
The report also said the high-speed rail network would take roughly 44 years to be self-sustaining with the government expected to pay $54.89 billion to the developer for operation costs and capital.
“The government’s $90-billion cost estimate isn’t realistic,” Jarvis said.
“Taxpayers can’t afford this boondoggle and it needs to be scrapped.”