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.