tramway

TRAM TRACKER: Prep work ramps up; consortia compete for big contracts

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

TRAM TRACKER: Prep work ramps up; consortia compete for big contracts

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

There will be several visible signs and a foretaste of the level of disruption over the coming months as preliminary work for the tramway project ramps up. At the same time, the selection process for principal contractors for the project has reached an important milestone.

Last week the city unveiled a list of worksites mostly along Bouls. René-Lévesque and Laurier, as well as in Saint-Roch, involving the relocation and modernization of underground networks for water, natural gas and telecommunications.

A few examples of the projects are the installation of valves for the water supply network on streets perpendicular to Boul. René-Lévesque as well as near 1ère Avenue in Limoilou and Charlesbourg; reconstruction of three access shafts for telecommunications networks at Avenues Holland, Brown and Cartier; and creation of a temporary connection zone at Parc Victoria and Rue de la Maréchaussée.

The city says it will inform affected residents and businesses as work rolls out and take measures to “maintain access to homes and businesses, ensure mobility and safe travel in neighbourhoods and reduce nuisances, such as noise and dust, caused by construction sites.”

Any questions about these projects can be directed to the city’s citizens’ relations centre by calling 311.

Meanwhile, the process to build the actual tramway net- work has taken a leap forward with the selection of consortia that will bid on the two biggest contracts of the project.

The Caisse de Dépôt et Placement de Québec infrastructure division (CDPQ Infra), which the Quebec government has commissioned to manage the tramway project, has picked three consortia of companies each to bid on the contracts for civil construction and for systems.

In a June 5 release, CDPQ Infra describes the civil work as including “the excavation of the tunnel under Parliament Hill, construction of buildings, construction and repair of bridges, viaducts and other engineering structures.”

The systems contract covers “railway tracks, traction power systems, as well as electrical, communication and road and railway signalling systems.

The six qualified consortia will have until the end of the year to submit proposals for evaluation by project manage- ment experts. Once the winning bidders are chosen early next year, the implementation stage will be set in motion towards a 2027 start for full- blown construction. The system is targeted for completion in 2033.

Some companies – Pomerleau and AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin), for example – are contenders for both contracts.

Phase 1 of the $7.6-billion TramCité project comprises 19 kilometres of track for electric trains, with 29 stations from Cap-Rouge to Charlesbourg.

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TRAM TRACKER: More federal money, big contracts coming for TramCité project

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

TRAM TRACKER: More federal money, big contracts coming for TramCité project

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

A boost in federal funding for Quebec City’s tramway project was one of the flurry of announcements made within hours of the federal election call on March 23.

The additional $332.2 million from Ottawa is on top of the $1.1 billion committed in 2019 when the initial version of the tramway project was announced. The total contribution of $1.4 billion is still short of the target of 40 per cent of the total $7.6 billion cost the city had hoped for.

Mayor Bruno Marchand told reporters while on a visit to Texas, “We definitely want more. We want the full 40 per cent. But it’s definitely a step up the ladder. … It allows the Quebec government and CDPQ-Infra to count on it and spend.”

While funding the project is firming up, preparations are accelerating to get the TramCité project under construction.

Last week the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Infra (CDPQ-Infra) agency, which is managing the project, issued a call for expression of interest for contracts to build two major components of the system.

By far the largest contract would be for the civil engineering work for infrastructure and buildings for the rail network. That would include, for example, excavation of the tunnel between Saint-Roch and Upper Town and three underground stations. Also included would be other structures such as interchange hubs, bridges and viaducts.

The other contract, accord- ing to the tender specifications, would be for “systems” associated with the main tramway infrastructure. This includes “the supply, integration, commissioning and maintenance of assets such as railway tracks, the overhead contact line, traction energy systems, electrical, communication and signalling systems.”

When the Quebec government gave the official green light to the project in December, CDPQ- Infra said there likely would be eight separate contracts with private sector interests to build the system,

The call for expression of interest is the first step in what could be a drawn-out process. Once the government has received responses, the potential bidders will be evaluated for their ability and qualification to take on the job.

A CDPQ-Infra spokesperson said the results of the call for interest would be known later in the spring. Some 120 companies are known to be ready to enter the bidding process.

The group of two or three bid- ders selected would then enter the “co-development process” with CDPQ-Infra and transport ministry officials to draw up proposals with cost and timelines. No contract is likely to be signed until well into 2026.

While construction of the tramway line won’t likely begin in earnest until next year, work already done on the now-aborted eastern leg of the tramway route has cost many millions of dollars.

According to a report in Le Soleil, $34.4 million has been spent on work to prepare the D’Estimauville tramway line and hub. The initial plan for the tramway presented under former mayor Régis Labeaume called for the line to run north to Charlesbourg.

The Coalition Avenir Québec government imposed the choice of D’Estimauville, which was then switched back to Charlesbourg in the June 2024 CDPQ- Infra report on the tramway project.

The work included relocation of a water main, demolition of buildings, relocation of underground infrastructure and reconstruction of a railway viaduct, as well as an archeological inventory and survey of trees affected by the work.

City officials say most of the work would need to be done eventually, but the tramway project made it more of a priority.

The D’Estimauville extension is still in the CDPQ-Infra plan as part of a second phase, although the current government has made no firm commitment to moving it forward.

CDPQ-Infra spokesperson Claudie Côté-Chabot said the decision to favour the Charlesbourg route was based on data showing a much higher bus ridership rate.

The agency estimates it will cost about $480 million to build the Charlesbourg line, compared to $620 million for the D’Estimauville extension.

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La Pocatière mayor “clarifies” tramway stance for Poilievre

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

La Pocatière mayor ‘clarifies’ stance on tramway for Poilievre 

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The mayor of La Pocatière is “clarifying” his town’s stance on Quebec City’s tramway project in the wake of comments made by federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre.

During a visit to Rivière-du-Loup on Jan, 22, Poilievre had applauded a resolution adopted a week earlier by the MRC of Kamouraska, which includes La Pocatière, in support of the so-called third link project championed by the Coalition Avenir Québec government.

Poilievre, in the view of La Pocatière town council, had apparently misinterpreted the resolution to suggest the MRC, while supporting the “third link,” opposed Quebec City’s tramway plan.

In a statement sent to the QCT, Mayor Vincent Bérubé said, “We stand in solidarity with our interregional counterparts, but our openness to the third

link is not a rejection of the Quebec [City] tramway project, which would ultimately limit road congestion and reduce the impact on the environment.”

In fact, the mayor noted, La Pocatière would benefit substantially from the tramway project, with the Alstom plant – formerly a Bombardier factory – a major employer in the town of 4,000.

Although the contract with Alstom to build the cars for the tramway, valued at about $569 million, has not been reconfirmed under the most recent version of the project, it’s expected the company, whose largest shareholder is Quebec’s pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement, will get the work. 

Bérubé said it “is obvious that this project has a special resonance given the presence of the Alstom plant in La Pocatière. The economic spinoffs are also felt in the territory of the MRCs of Kamouraska and L’Islet, since many workers live in these regions and several companies that subcontract with Alstom have a presence in the region.”

In his statement, the mayor invited the local Conservative MP, Bernard Généreux (Montmagny–L’Islet–Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup), “to facilitate a meeting with Mr. Poilievre, in order to present our regional economic ecosystem and to take the pulse, on the ground, of the importance of companies involved in the rail transportation industry.”

La Pocatière is some 120 kilometres east of Quebec City on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence River.

                     

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TRAM TRACKER: CAQ mandates Caisse Infra to build tramway Phase 1; RTC to run it

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

TRAM TRACKER: CAQ mandates Caisse Infra to build tramway Phase 1; RTC to run it

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Coalition Avenir Québec government, under political and time pressure, has given the green light to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Infra (CDPQ Infra) to kickstart Quebec City’s paused tramway project.

The decision came after a regular cabinet meeting on Oct. 9, communicated officially via a carefully worded CDPQ Infra news release, saying the pension plan agency “today accepted a new mandate from the government of Quebec to plan the first phase of the CITÉ plan and set up the organization required to ensure the proper development of the next stages of the tramway project.”

CITÉ stands for Circuit intégré de transport express, the name CDPQ Infra gave to the three-phase project it recommended in a study, released in June, of transportation needs in the Quebec City region the CAQ government ordered last fall.

The release notes: “CDPQ Infra will soon confirm the composition of the project team, which will include all the expertise needed for the mandate to move forward.”

The first phase would be a 15-kilometre tramway line linking Cap-Rouge and Boul. Laurier in the west with Saint- Roch and Charlesbourg in the east. An expansion of the South Shore (Lévis) bus service is also in the plan.

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault told reporters after the cabinet meeting that CDPQ Infra is “being given the keys to planning Phase 1 of the tramway, so this is a very important step. This is confirmation that we are moving forward and taking the next step.”

While CDPQ Infra will be in charge of building the tram- way, its actual operation will be the responsibility of the Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC), which manages the city’s existing transit network.

Coun. Maude Mercier Larouche, city executive committee member and RTC president, said in a statement, “We are pleased to see that the tramway project is progressing. … Our teams have all the experience and expertise needed to bring this crucial transportation project for Quebec City to life.”

The government mandate to CDPQ Infra contains a Dec. 15 deadline to file a final draft agreement containing more details on the roles of various players as well as the financial structure for the project.

Some political commentators see the deadline as hard to meet and a potential escape hatch for the CAQ government to delay and abandon the project with the prospect of a Conservative federal government on the horizon.

Québec Solidaire MNA Étienne Grandmont, who represents the Quebec City riding of Taschereau, said via an Oct. 9 news release, “Confirming partners is one thing, but I’m still waiting for the funding to be secured. The Dec. 15 deadline worries me; it’s the minister’s hand on the plug, and I fear she’s ready to pull the trigger.”

Limoilou Coun. and Transition Québec Leader Jackie Smith said, “We must immediately get the teams back to work by resuming the work that was interrupted a year ago. We want to see the funding promised for our city translate into new infrastructure as soon as possible.”

Nora Loreto, co-founder of Québec désire son tramway, told the QCT, “We’re very happy to see movement on the tramway file and look forward to this project being managed by the RTC.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand, whose revised higher budget for the tramway triggered the CAQ’s intervention, made a brief statement applauding the project restart. “I am delighted that the Quebec government is confirming with this gesture the implementation of the CITÉ plan. This is an essential project for the Quebec City region in the context of very strong population growth. We cannot wage an effective war on congestion without investing in the development of public transportation,” he said.

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