Don’t Talk To Me About Fast Ferry’s! The SkyTrain Fiasco Is Far Worse!

Erfurt – Germany

In Germany, the average cost to construct a new at-grade, 2-track (double) street tramway typically ranges from €10 million to €20 million per kilometer (CAD $16 million to $32 million)

This includes the physical track installation, embedding in the road, overhead electrification, and basic stop infrastructure. 

However, total project costs fluctuate heavily based on localized urban conditions:

• Average European Baseline: While Germany generally enjoys some of the most cost-effective at-grade tram delivery in Europe (often averaging around million per mile nationwide), heavy utility relocation, land acquisition, or intersection redesign can easily spike the price. 
• Total System Build vs. Track Only: For a comprehensive urban light rail or street tramway—which also requires rolling stock (trams), maintenance depots, and signaling systems—costs can range anywhere from €25 million to over €45 million per kilometer (CAD $41M – $97M/km) when factoring in all necessary capital outlays. 
• International Context: When compared to other developed nations, German urban rail infrastructure delivery is considered highly cost-efficient, costing significantly less per mile than similar projects in the UK, USA, or Australia. 

This is important, the initial tram line, complete with Operations and Maintenance Centre, will always cost more than future extensions.

The previously planned for Surrey LRT’s initial line was said to cost $1.65 billion, but that included cars, OMC and all the other items for a start-up line.

Extensions to the line, depending on quality of Right of Way, would have cost $16/mil/km to $32 mil/km. Thus a 16 km extension to to Langley would have cost anywhere from $512 million to $1.03 billion.

The total cost of both the initial light rail line and the 16 km extension would range from CAD $2.2 billion to $2.68 billion.

Compare this to the current SkyTrain extension to Langley:

The guideway’s latest cost from 2025, $6 billion, but does not include signalling (part of the Thales $1.47 re-signalling contract of the Expo and Millennium Lines), extra cars needed and the the $1 billion Operations and Maintenance Centre #5, needed for the new MK.5 Innovia 300 cars.

The total cost for the $16 km SkyTrain extension to Langley is costing over $7 billion and possible over $8 billion!

Thus the total cost for the 16km extension works out to $437 million/km to $500 million/km to build!

Both civic and provincial politicians are spending over $5 billion more for a light metro line, which, according to TransLink, move less customers than the Broadway B-Line bus!

One must remember that the Mayor’s Council on Transit, Metro Vancouver and the provincial NDP, abetted by the corporate media, fully approved of this massive $5 billion fiscal mismanagement.