The consortium of Bechtel, Bombardier, EllisDon and Fengate Capital Management was awarded a 35-year public private partnership contract in February 2016 design, build, operate, maintain and finance the 13.1-km Valley Line Southeast from Downtown (102 Street) to Mill Woods. A second phase, the 14-km Valley Line West extension to Lewis Farms, is currently at the engineering stage, with procurement expected to begin this year.
Bombardier is building 20 Flexity Freedom LRVs for the Valley Line at its plant in Kingston, Ontario. Each seven-section vehicle will accommodate 348 passengers.
The first vehicle is due to arrive in Edmonton in July and dynamic testing will begin on a 1.7-km section of the route in September. Commercial operations on Valley Line Southeast are expected to begin in 2020.
