Hamilton’s LRT is moving ahead (again). What happens next?

Visible work will start on Hamilton's resurrected LRT line as early as spring 2022 now that city councillors have voted to sign a project agreement with provincial transit agency Metrolinx.

Don't expect major construction until after next year's provincial and municipal elections, however.

City council essentially recommitted to the contentious, once-cancelled light rail transit project in a June vote that followed an unprecedented joint funding offer of $3.4 billion from the federal Liberal and provincial Tory governments.

But an 11-3 general issues committee vote Wednesday to endorse a memorandum of agreement with Metrolinx means work can restart on the planned 14-kilometre LRT line between McMaster University and Eastgate Square as soon as the vote is ratified at council next week.

Here's what we know so far about what happens next:

• Build an LRT office. Behind the scenes, the city will negotiate staffing for a resurrected municipal project office. (The city had to dismantle its original team when the province cancelled the first project in December 2019.)

This team will work with Metrolinx on the construction project, talk to tenants and businesses along the corridor and restart planning around how a light rail transit line will affect how all residents get around the city.

• Get shovels in the ground." Metrolinx president Phil Verster said early works" like relocating underground utilities - think hydro and phone lines - will be the first visible work residents will see along the Main-King corridor.

Verster called starting this work an urgent" priority that he wants to see happen as soon as possible." Mayor Fred Eisenberger, however, suggested early works may have to wait until after this winter. The Spectator is following up with Metrolinx on its planned schedule.

• Buying or expropriating more land. Metrolinx has already bought (and in some cases, knocked down) 60 buildings along the King-Main transit corridor - forcing dozens of tenants and businesses to relocate along the way.

But up to 30 more properties may still be on the purchase list. The Spectator has asked for details on when property buying will resume - and how many tenants must still be relocated as a result.

• Figure out who does what. The city and Metrolinx have to negotiate a long list of sub-agreements over some fairly critical questions. Some of the biggies: Who will run the trains - the HSR or a private operator? How will project disputes be resolved? In what circumstances is municipal funding required?

• Set a construction schedule. When will actual LRT construction begin? And when will it end? The short answer is Metrolinx does not know yet.

Verster said a project schedule should start to take shape in the back half of 2022" - meaning after all of the behind-the-scenes work (and a couple of elections that might, in theory, touch on LRT.)

Worth noting: the original project envisioned close to four years worth of construction activity. But that was when the entire project - design, construction and operation - was going to be completed by a single consortium.

This time, Metrolinx wants to split off" elements of the project - underground work, storage facility construction and train-building being potential examples - into separate contracts.

• Survive some elections. The federal election is not expected to derail Hamilton's Liberal-funded LRT project because both the Tories and NDP have expressed support for the historic $1.7-billion transit investment in Hamilton, if not necessarily the specific project.

Provincially, the Liberals and NDP have also voiced support for a Hamilton LRT line now funded in part by Ontario's Progressive Conservatives, so next spring's election also seems unlikely to threaten the project.

A fall municipal election could still turn the project into a political football, though - especially if former mayor and MP Bob Bratina, a determined LRT opponent, takes another run at the top council job.

More to come.

Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com