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Costs of light rail construction
The cost of light rail construction varies widely, largely depending on the
amount of tunneling and elevated structures required. A survey of North American
light rail projects shows that costs of most LRT systems range from $15 million
per mile to over $100 million per mile. Seattle's new light rail system is by
far the most expensive in the U.S. at $179 million per mile, since it includes
extensive tunneling in poor soil conditions, elevated sections, and stations as
deep as 180 feet below ground level. These result in costs more typical of
subways or rapid transit systems than light rail. At the other end of the scale,
four systems (Baltimore MD, Camden NJ, Sacramento CA, and Salt Lake City UT)
incurred costs of less than $20 million per mile. Over the U.S. as a whole,
excluding Seattle, new light rail construction costs average about $35 million
per mile.
Combining highway expansion with LRT construction can save costs by doing both
highway improvements and rail construction at the same time. As an example,
Denver's T-REX (Transportation Expansion) project rebuilt interstate highways 25
and 225 and added a light-rail expansion for a total cost of $1.67 billion over
five years. The cost of 17 miles of highway improvements and 19 miles of
double-track light rail worked out to $19.3 million per highway lane-mile and
$27.6 million per LRT track-mile. The project came in under budget and 22 months
ahead of schedule.
LRT cost efficiency improves dramatically as ridership increases. the Calgary,
Alberta C-Train used many common light rail techniques to keep costs low,
including minimizing underground and elevated trackage, sharing transit malls
with buses, leasing rights-of-way from freight railroads, and combining LRT
construction with freeway expansion. As a result, Calgary ranks toward the less
expensive end of the scale with capital costs of around $24 million per mile
However, Calgary's LRT ridership is much higher than any comparable U.S. city at
over 250,000 rides per weekday and as a result its efficiency of capital is also
much higher. Its capital costs were ⅓ that of the San Diego system, a comparably
sized one in the U.S., while its ridership is well over twice as high. Thus,
Calgary's capital cost per weekday rider is less than 1/6 that of San Diego. Its
operating costs are also lower. A typical C-Train vehicle costs only $163 per
hour to operate, and since it averages 600 passengers per operating hour,
Calgary Transit estimates that its LRT operating costs are only 27 cents per
ride, versus $1.50 per ride on its buses
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