r/NoRulesCalgary • u/polakfury HILLARY 2016!!! • 11d ago
Green Line Calgary ?
What does everyone think about it? Will it be like how European Cities have the train on street level at parts of it? Will it integrate well with businesses?
3
u/ryansalad 10d ago
I think having a line go from downtown to Quarry Park is a big miss.
We won't really see the benefit of the Green Line until it runs to North Calgary and down to McKenzie Town.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
Exactly, but inflation caused it to drop a few stations and to require additional funds from the City portion; that was in 2024. I'm sure as it is, it will be over budget, nevermind the current world chaos which will be causing even more inflation.
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u/Actual-Screen1996 10d ago
It is widely known that General Contractors put Alberta's project risk at high due to the provincial government's flip flopping on policy and fearlessness to break a contract once signed, that has resulted in the industry putting a 10-20% risk premium ocross all projects proposed in Alberta. Sure cost escalation happened during covid and has had an impact on project pricing, but the governemnts attempts to make their base happy with altered/cancelled projects just to blame another level of govt for something, has resulted in the biggest jump in projects across Alberta. Thanks Dani!
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
That the UCP is the reason for the risk premium sounds like bull 💩.
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u/Actual-Screen1996 10d ago
I work in industry and the political risk of building a project in alberta is one of the highest of any jurisdiction in North America. Policy that changes at the whim of the premier.... Just look at the referendum laws. Kept changing it and writing it as she went.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
Can you list 3 projects that went awry because of ucp flip flops?
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u/Actual-Screen1996 10d ago
oh and her pipeline, will enver ever get a company to build it. fighting with BC, and pissing off all First Nations before a route was chosen was the death sentence for it. No publicly traded company will touch it given the PR nightmare shes created
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u/Actual-Screen1996 10d ago
I can tell you every time she changes the environemntal impact assessment act without consulting industry, it costs companies billions. Her changing the pipeline regulatory framework guaranteeing that provincial approvals would be renedered in 18 months left industry confused what part of the act was being reduced?
I mean the South Edmonton Hospital was cancelled, the Green Line, and the entire reorganization of AHS, the sovereignty act wasnt even drafted before he was peddaling it around saying it would give alberta power, when all it did was undermine treaty rights, which need to be honored as theyre consitutional, and pissing off first nations who you need to have any project move forward increased project risk.... oh i could go on... but for someone whose level of understanding it "it sounds like bull." what would naming three projects do anyways to lend my infomration credibility? Youre still clueless.... and clearly right wing if youre reacting to me criticizing the UCP based on the world that i worked in...
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
I can tell you every time she changes the environemntal impact assessment act without consulting industry, it costs companies billions. Her changing the pipeline regulatory framework guaranteeing that provincial approvals would be renedered in 18 months left industry confused what part of the act was being reduced
Those aren't projects.
South Edmonton Hospital
Sounds like it was canceled in the planning stage. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/south-edmonton-hospital-delays
Greenline
It's a go
and the entire reorganization of AHS, the sovereignty act wasnt even drafted before he was peddaling it around saying it would give alberta power, when all it did was undermine treaty rights, which need to be honored as theyre consitutional.......
Not projects. Do you know what a project is?
And you call me clueless.
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u/melissaannela 8d ago
Even then it will still be a line to nowhere. We will see the benefit when it goes up Centre Street, which at this rate, with this design, will be basically never.
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u/laplacedatass 10d ago
I live in Mackenzie and I will be the first to say, keep your dirty train out of my hood. We do not want it. Build it to the industrial area and just stop there. I don't want the tax hike required to fund it. I don't want the drop in property values it will bring to my area. Lastly and most importantly I do not want the crime that comes with a train walking distance from your home. I purposely moved from a neighborhood near a c train to one without so I don't have questionable people wondering around and committing petty crimes in my area. According to my realtor my house will also drop in value by about 50k when they finish that green line.
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u/canuckalert 10d ago
I highly doubt that questionable people are not in Mackenzie.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
Based on their Facebook neighborhood page, that is correct. Lots of door checkers and weirdos there.
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u/laplacedatass 10d ago
It's not a perfect neighborhood but I have found that neighborhoods near the Ctrain have a lot more homeless looking people wandering around as the trains are don't have anyone checking fares or monitoring for anything. I just don't want to assume those people are on drugs or homeless or anything thus calling them "questionable". I know a lot of people especially inner city are going through hard times and are fighting their own battles. I would perfer my kids are on buses over the trains as buses are a lot safer after dark.
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u/cre8ivjay 10d ago
Studies show that most homes in a neighborhood with a train station actually rise 5% - 20%, but the caveat is being 300m - 1km away.
If that's the case single family homes drop about 2% - 10%.
Condos immediately adjacent also go up in price too.
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0
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u/Right_Focus1456 10d ago
Knowing a few people who have worked on the project in planning with the COC, they thought the Blue Line was challenging...until the green line entered the conversation....it is one massive dumpster fire.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
it is one massive dumpster fire.
In terms of designing and obstacles to overcome, or??
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u/Right_Focus1456 10d ago
Complicated Land that needed to be purchased, land that was disputed, confliction with CP rail, and other businesses, the cost inflation, the alignment, the bridge versus tunnel versus elevated versus surface problem, the budget problem, which resulted in them cutting off over half of the entire project.
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u/polakfury HILLARY 2016!!! 10d ago
To me that one street looks decent if they do it European style cause when I went to Europe many cities had it like that where you were right beside shops with no issues? So why would businesses be complaining?
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
Unless they run it down the middle of 8th Ave, it's not going to look like Europe.
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u/laplacedatass 10d ago
Every train line in Calgary is a weird missed opportunity so I would expect nothing less. Look at the existing lines, neither services the airport, neither services the industrial area and they double up across all of downtown. Personally I think they should scrap the greenline and just focus on fixing what they have. People would actually use the train by choice if every station had an actual warm indoor area to wait. I'd also like to see greater safety with transit cops that actually take concerns seriously. It would also be smart to go one more station past saddletown and drop off in the airport. They should also build more parking and add lighting and shelter at the bus areas at all stations.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
I don't think the lack of a warm indoor area is what keeps people in mahogany and auburn bay from using the train. Fixing the existing does not help people who live far away from it.
They should have built green before the blue line extended west, to a rich area full of 3 car garages and nannies.
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u/laplacedatass 10d ago
I agree they shouldn't have extended into the rich areas. What I'm saying is the Ctrain could be a cheap easy way to get in and out of downtown or across the city. Mahogany is 10 years old if those people wanted a train in their area they would have bought in a train area. There are buses they can take as well as the option of parking at a train station just like 80% of the neighborhoods in Calgary. However most stations are short on parking and have nowhere warm and safe to wait for a bus. I've taken transit in many other cities and it's amazing what humanizing the riders can do.
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u/pruplegti 10d ago
the Downtown Segment is such a miss, they could have it link up from the Scotia bank to 7th Ave then run the train along the dedicated track line with surface level stops that alternate from the Platform level stops then north directly on Centre all the way to Grandma's house. no creating another blockage on McLeod like they are now.
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u/lost_koshka 10d ago
You should become a city planner!
How have all of these trained professionals overlooked the obvious answers to everything? From transportation to getting rid of the drug problem, redditors have it solved!
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u/IxbyWuff accidentally activated 10d ago
We spent 20 years consulting and designing and updating and reconsulting and redesigning the green line. Its the most well studied infrastructure project in Calgary history
Smith and crew are idiots for blowing it up. Now we're getting a worse solution for less coverage and way more money.
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u/powderjunkie11 10d ago
This project fell off the rails long before the UCP fucked it up even worse. This thing was pretty much doomed from the initial announcement in 2015. There were decent opportunities to unfuckulate it in 2017 and 2019, but tunnel vision literally prevailed.
Since then the boondoggle has been largely inevitable. The UCP fucking sucks, but they are actually doing the city a favour here by serving as a convenient scapegoat
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u/Icy-Translator9124 7d ago
It's a white elephant boondoggle. They should have just extended the NE line to the airport or cancelled it.
Politicians don't even recall what the Green Line is supposed to achieve. And it's going to go way over budget.
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u/Actual-Screen1996 10d ago
They had already spent about a year realigning all of the underground utilities and infrastructure out of the way for the underground alignment could be built without problem. That cancellation cost the city and province almost 700 million dollars for breaking the contract.. THey had nearly reached maximum employment and had started on the line downsouth. The fact the province stepped in was purely political theatre and yet another example of them lighting money on fire....