The Canadian government dropped its FY17 budget. While the package isn't everything one might have hoped for (a transit tax credit got the axe), VIA got C$867m over three years in it, and there is a lot of investment in mass transit (C$3.4bn over the next three years and C$20bn over ten years...some of the lag is down to the joys of how long some projects take to spool up). There are big-ticket items in most of the major cities (not really a shock, but still a pleasant surprise) with Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary(!) getting the biggest-ticket wins.
I'm not quite sure what VIA can do with C$867m, but that amount is well above their operating need at the moment (IIRC that hovers around C$75m/yr), so hopefully this is enough to actually place the new equipment order that's been floating out there for a bit.
Edit: So, some elaboration:
-Caprica City Vancouver gets a new Skytrain subway line on Broadway.
-Toronto gets both some LRT projects and a ramping-up of all-day GO Transit service.
-Calgary gets a 40km extension to their LRT system (the Green Line).
-Ottawa gets a 36km set of LRT extensions.
-Montreal gets the big prize: Funding of the "Réseau électrique métropolitain", basically a Skytrain project for the city which will hub out of Gare Centrale as well as directly serving Dorval Airport from downtown.
I'm not quite sure what VIA can do with C$867m, but that amount is well above their operating need at the moment (IIRC that hovers around C$75m/yr), so hopefully this is enough to actually place the new equipment order that's been floating out there for a bit.
Edit: So, some elaboration:
-
-Toronto gets both some LRT projects and a ramping-up of all-day GO Transit service.
-Calgary gets a 40km extension to their LRT system (the Green Line).
-Ottawa gets a 36km set of LRT extensions.
-Montreal gets the big prize: Funding of the "Réseau électrique métropolitain", basically a Skytrain project for the city which will hub out of Gare Centrale as well as directly serving Dorval Airport from downtown.
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