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The Region of Waterloo has announced that it has selected the GrandLinq consortium as the preferred bidder for the development of the Region of Waterloo Stage 1 Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.

The Region of Waterloo is a regional municipality located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It consists of the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo

The GrandLinq consortium is formed by: Plenary Group Canada Ltd.; Meridiam Infrastructure Waterloo; LRT ULC Aecon Construction and Materials Ltd.; Aecon Concessions; Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co.; Kiewit Canada Development Corp.; Mass Electric Construction Canada Co.; Keolis SA; Keolis Canada Inc.; AECOM Canada Ltd.; STV Canada Construction Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc.

This consortium beat out competition from two other consortia shortlisted on 10 March, 2014.  The final Project Agreement with GrandLinq will be completed by the end of April and construction will begin shortly thereafter.

The region had originally estimated the capital costs for construction of stage 1 of the LRT component of the project at CAD$545 million. The Grandlinq proposal had an estimated cost of CAD$532.1 million. That doesn't include land acquisition and rolling stock costs.

The total costs for the rapid transit system are estimated at CAD$818 million. All three levels of government have announced funding commitments for the project, including CAD$300 million from the province, one-third of the eligible costs up to CAD$265 million from the federal government and CAD$253 million from the region.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operation, and maintenance (DBFOM) basis for a period of 30 years. Under the terms of the bid the annual costs for the consortium are CAD$30 million per year.

The Stage 1 LRT Projectis a major part of the Region's Rapid Transit Project, as approved by Regional Council in June 2011. The 19 kilometre route will run from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener, with service expected to begin in 2017. It also includes a 17 kilometre route of adapted Bus Rapid Transit (aBRT) from Fairview Park Mall to the Ainslie Street Terminal in Cambridge. The aBRT service is expected to begin operating in late-2014 or early-2015.