Green Line (Calgary)

The Green Line will feature three distinct characters throughout the line: at-grade, elevated, and underground. Generally, stations will be smaller and less elaborate than existing CTrain stations, due to the use of low-floor trains. The southeast segment of the line will run similarly to the existing Red Line and Blue Line, with free-standing stations, bells and gates on at-grade crossings, and dedicated track. The line is then completely underground with four underground stations through the Beltline, the Centre City, and Eau Claire. The underground segment begins at a tunnel portal at 11 Ave SE / 6 St SE adjacent to the Victoria Park Bus Garage. It will enter the Beltline in a shallow tunnel below 11 Ave SE, before reorienting north and entering the centre city under 2 St SW. The train then stops underground at 7 Ave SW station, providing direct transfer to the existing Red Line and Blue Line. The train will continue north, stopping underground at 2 Street SW station in Eau Claire, exiting at a tunnel portal integrated into the Eau Claire Market. Then, an S-curved elevated guideway will take tracks to Centre Street, north of the Centre Street Bridge. The train will then run northward in the centre two lanes of Centre Street as a dedicated tram, leaving two lanes for car traffic south of McKnight Blvd and four lanes north of McKnight Blvd. The train will continue northbound, and tracks will eventually enter into the median of Harvest Hills Boulevard, and span north of Stoney Trail in a later stage.[5]

Stage 1 of the Green Line, which will stretch from 16th Avenue North to Shepard in the southeast, will be constructed in three segments:[7]

• Segment 1: Shepard to Elbow River – construction beginning 2021[4]
• Segment 2A: Elbow River to 2 Avenue SW station including downtown tunnel – construction beginning 2022
• Segment 2B: 2 Avenue SW station to 16 Avenue N station including Bow River bridge – construction beginning 2024

• 
  The Bow River crossing, approved June 2020
• 
  Thorncliffe station near McKnight Blvd N
• 
  Green Line tunnel through Downtown Calgary
• 
  CTrain in Tuxedo Park on Centre Street
• 
  South Hospital station in Seton

The Green Line LRT will have a total of 29 stations, and has a length of 46 kilometres (29 mi). As of April 2019, the planned Green Line corridors are served via two bus rapid transit lines: 301 (operating between North Pointe and downtown, primarily along Centre Street N)[8] and 302 (operating between Seton and downtown).[9]

Stage 1, to start construction in 2021 with an anticipated completion date in 2027, will extend from 16 Avenue N through downtown to Shepard at 126 Avenue SE, including 15 stations.[10]

In 2019, several potential Stage 2 build-outs were being evaluated, depending on available funding. These were:[11]

• CA$250–400 million:
  • South to McKenzie Towne
• $400–700 million:
  • North to 40 Ave N or
  • South to Auburn Bay/Mahogany
• $700 million – $1 billion:
  • North to 64 Ave N or
  • South to Seton or
  • North to 40 Ave N and south to Auburn Bay/Mahogany

Key

Trams ran along the surface of Centre Street for 41 years, from 1909 to 1950.[15] The city’s updated 2020 alignment runs the Green Line on the surface of Centre Street, restoring the historic alignment of Calgary’s trams with modern low-floor trains.

The Green Line was first envisioned in 1983.[16] As early as 1986, the communities of McKenzie Towne, New Brighton and Copperfield had set aside land along 52 Street SE for the future line. In 1987, the city then conducted the Southeast Mass Transit Corridor Study and concluded that southeast Calgary would one day require a dedicated light rail line.[17] In 2010, the city anticipated that the Green Line would be required before Calgary’s population reached 1.25 million, though the city surpassed that population just 5 years later.[18] In 2011, the city began considering three possible alignments for the north-central leg of the Green Line: along Nose Creek adjacent to Deerfoot Trail, on Edmonton Trail, or on Centre Street. After engagement with the public, the city selected Centre Street as the preferred alignment.[19]

In 2012, as the westward expansion of the Blue Line was being completed, the Green Line was proposed as two separate new lines — one from downtown to north central, one from downtown to the far southeast.[20] Although the alignment of both legs was already largely established, the route of the north-central leg south of Harvest Hills to 16 Ave N had not been finalized.[21] [14] Through 2016, $101 million had been spent on right-of-way acquisition and preliminary studies.[22] In May 2017, the city announced the Green Line would be built in stages due to the unexpectedly high costs of certain design choices.[23] Although the original estimate for the entire 28-station Green Line was $4.5 billion,[24] the cost of Stage 1 alone, including the $1.95 billion cost of the recommended centre city tunnel,[25] was estimated at $4.65 billion.[23]

In early 2019, the NDP provincial government committed $1.5 billion in funding paid for by the provincial carbon tax.[26] In late 2019, the UCP provincial government cut the Green Line’s budget by 86%[27] and passed a bill allowing them to terminate funding “without cause” with just 90 days notice.[28] As the megaproject was looming approval in early 2020, a group of oil industry and business executives, all with ties to the United Conservative Party[29], organized an invite only event at the Calgary Petroleum Club with city officials.[30] One of the attendees, Calgary oil patch executive Jim Gray, stated the group was not opposed to the Green Line, but instead wanted to "de-risk" the project.[31] The group called for replacing over half the rail line with a bus, abandoning the downtown subway, and for the use of high-floor trains.[32] On June 16, 2020, council rejected the group's demands and voted 14 to 1 to approve the line.[7] A poll conducted that same month found 68.7% of Calgarians in support of the project.[33] The $4.6 billion cost of Stage 1 will be shared in roughly equal portions between the federal government, provincial government, and the City of Calgary.[34]

• Blue Line (Calgary)
• Red Line (Calgary)

• Green Line LRT Long Term Vision: 160 Avenue N to Seton, in twelve parts: