Transit Briefs: Metrolinx, BART

Metrolinx’s East Harbour Transit Hub in Toronto will be located on the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO Transit rail lines. The station will provide connections to the Ontario Line subway and future Toronto Transit Commission services. (Rendering Courtesy of Metrolinx)

Hatch is tapped to design the East Harbour Transit Hub for Metrolinx. Also, Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) Fleet of the Future trains are projected to come in hundreds of millions of dollars under budget.

Metrolinx

Hatch on Jan. 8 announced that it has entered into an Alliance Development Agreement (ADA) for the East Harbour Transit Hub. As Lead Design Participant, Hatch will provide architectural, engineering, project management and advisory services to support the development of the East Harbour Transit Hub—a major interchange station on the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO lines, the Ontario Line subway and future Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcars.

The project, which is being delivered as part of Toronto’s SmartTrack Stations Program, will be built north of the East Harbour development, which is being delivered through Ontario’s Transit-Oriented Communities program.

According to Hatch, the East Harbour Transit Hub, which will provide a gateway to East Harbour development, will be the second busiest train station in the GO network (after Toronto’s Union Station). It will support local transit needs in the community and regional connectivity. Service levels planned as part of GO Expansion would see a GO train arriving at EHTH as frequently as every five minutes. 

“East Harbour is the most significant city building opportunity of this generation,” said Hatch Global Director, Management and Delivery Phillip Murray. “This transformative infrastructure project will provide a greater choice of reliable and convenient route options to shorten commutes and increase quality of life for locals and visitors alike.”

The East Harbour Transit Hub is the second major project to be procured by Metrolinx using an alliance model. The award of the ADA has allowed for an early construction work program to begin and signals the start of a collaborative phase to develop the design, schedule and cost of the project, Hatch said in a release.

The next phase of the project will commence in 2024 once the Project Alliance Agreement is signed, which will position the alliance to execute the project.

The Alliance team includes owner Metrolinx, designer Hatch and project management and construction partner Rail Connect Partners, which, comprised of a 50/50 joint venture of AtkinsRéalis and Bird Construction Inc., entered into an ADA with Metrolinx earlier this week.

BART

BART’s Fleet of the Future trains are now not only carrying riders on all regularly scheduled trips, but the project also is coming in hundreds of millions of dollars under budget thanks to “tight project management,” the agency announced Jan. 10.

Thanks to a revised schedule, and an accelerated monthly delivery rate of new rail cars, BART says the project is expected to cost $394 million less than when the contract was awarded in 2012.

“There’s no question the Fleet of the Future project is a success story,” said Project Manager John Garnham. “Riders love the newer, cleaner modern feel of the cars and now we have great budget news for the project.”

The original contract awarded for 775 cars forecast a project cost of $2.584 billion but an October 2023 financial update lowered the forecast by 15%, to $2.190 billion. Over the course of 11 years, BART and the manufacturer, Alstom, have increased the pace of making and delivering the cars, resulting in significant savings.

The original delivery schedule called for the delivery of 10 cars a month, but BART worked with Alstom to increase the rate to 16 cars a month, saving more than $100 million.

According to BART, another big cost saver was the agency’s decision to have its own “highly experienced staff do more of the engineering work in house.” The project team has included engineers, who have successfully completed new rail car projects at other agencies.

The delivery schedule is now faster than ever—20 cars a month are being delivered to BART—and, as of Dec. 31, 2024, 672 of the 775 cars are on BART property.