Region of Waterloo awards LRT DBOM contract
Written by Douglas John BowenOntario province's Regional Municipality of Waterloo on Tuesday, March 4, 2014, approved a C$1.9 billion (US$1.7 billion), 30-year contract to GrandLinq, one of three consortia competing to build an 11.8-mile light rail transit line.
GrandLinq’s contract includes design, build, operate, and maintenance (DBOM) responsibilities over the three-decade period for the LRT line, now called Ion.
“Ion is the right move, at the right time, for the right reasons,” council member Sean Strickland told local media in support of the move, opposed by four of other council members, including Mayor Doug Craig of Cambridge, Ont.
GrandLinq includes Plenary Group Canada Ltd.; Meridiam Infrastructure Waterloo; LRT ULC Aecon Construction and Materials Ltd.; Aecon Concessions; Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co.; Kiewit Canada Development Corp.; Mass Electric Construction Canada Co.; Keolis SA,; Keolis Canada Inc.; AECOM Canada Ltd.; STV Canada Construction Inc.; and CIBC World Markets, Inc.
Two other consortia, Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge Transit Partners and Tricity Transit Systems, were finalists submitting bids late last year.
Ontario province has committed up to C$300 million in funding, bolstered by Canadian federal government funding of C$265 million and regional contributions of C$253 million.
Last August, Bombardier Transportation announced it had landed a contract with the Regional Municipality of Waterloo to supply 14 FLEXITY Freedom light rail vehicles (shown above), initially serving the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo.
