Green Line LRT (Phase 1)

Alignment

Phase 1 of the Green Line runs about 17 km of twin-track light rail from Shepard, near 130 Avenue SE, northwest to the Beltline and then along 10 Avenue S to the edge of downtown, with 11 stations. The 16 km SE Segment, now under construction, has the first ten: Shepard, Douglas Glen, Quarry Park, South Hill, Ogden, Lynnwood/Millican, Highfield, 26 Avenue SE, Ramsay/Inglewood, and Event Centre/Grand Central, next to the new event centre in Victoria Park. It includes two river crossings, elevated guideway at Barlow Trail and 114 Avenue SE, three park-and-ride lots, and a maintenance and storage facility at Shepard for a fleet of 28 low-floor CAF light rail vehicles.

The Downtown Segment, approved in September 2026, continues at street level along 10 Avenue S, crossing Macleod Trail at grade and staying out of the CPKC rail corridor, to a new terminus station on 10 Avenue near 2 Street SW. Riders will reach the Red and Blue lines through the Plus 15 network or by walking north on 1 Street SW. This replaces both the original plan, a deep tunnel from 4 Street SE to Eau Claire with four underground stations, and the province’s 2024 elevated concept. The full Green Line is planned at 46 km from Seton to 160 Avenue N; the city is planning and budgeting the south and north extensions separately.

The City of Calgary leads and delivers the project. An independent Green Line Board, created in 2021, ended its mandate and handed the program back to the city in October 2024. The city, the Government of Alberta, and the Government of Canada fund Phase 1, and Alberta has made a tunnel-free downtown route a condition of its funding.

Updates

2026-09 — Council approves a surface route downtown

On September 22, council voted 12–2 for an at-grade alignment on 10 Avenue S, endorsed by Executive Committee on September 8. At about C$850M, it was the only downtown option that fit within the C$6.248B budget; two elevated alternatives were C$1B and C$500M over budget. The city projects about 41,000 daily riders, and the province said it is open to refinements but wants an above-ground route. The city can now proceed with design and procurement for the segment, and the first phase is still set to open in 2031.

2026-08 — SE station design complete as contracts continue

Design of nine SE Segment stations reached 100% in August 2026. Contracts awarded in 2026 went to PCL for maintenance facility foundations, Supreme Steel for its structural steel, and Graham for elevated guideway at Barlow Trail and 114 Avenue SE. In October 2025 the city had shortlisted Aecon, EllisDon, FlatironDragados, Graham, and PCL for civil works from 2026 to 2031.

2026-06 — Council asks for alternatives to the elevated downtown route

After public engagement on the elevated route in February and March 2026 and further public research in April, council on June 30 approved a modified direction and asked staff to study other downtown alignments. Those alternatives went to Executive Committee in September.

2025-06 — Construction begins on the SE Segment

Politicians from all three governments broke ground on June 26, 2025, on the 16 km segment from Shepard to Event Centre/Grand Central. The project was then budgeted at C$6.25B, with service targeted for 2031. Light rail vehicle manufacturing began at CAF in Zaragoza, Spain, in September 2025.

2025-01 — Council adopts the province-backed plan

On January 28, 2025, council voted to start construction on the SE Segment and to prepare a functional plan for a downtown route based on the province’s Baseline Elevated Concept, released in December 2024, which ran along 10 Avenue S and north on 2 Street SW to 7 Avenue S. City staff identified C$1.2B in costs and risks that the province’s assessment did not account for, and the province said it would not add funding. The federal government approved the revised business case on March 18, 2025.

2024-09 — Alberta withdraws funding and council votes to wind down

Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen told the city that Alberta would withhold its C$1.53B share, citing lower ridership projections and the risk and cost of a deep downtown tunnel. On September 17 council voted 10–5 to wind the project down. The city had spent about C$1.3B and estimated wind-down costs of at least C$850M. On October 10 the city and province agreed to continue parts of the project while the province’s consultant studied alternatives.

2024-07 — Council shortens Phase 1 as costs rise

Facing cost escalation, council approved a shorter Phase 1 ending at Lynnwood/Millican, with fewer stations and a new delivery model, which brought the budget to about C$6.2B. The change deferred the Centre Street station and cut projected daily ridership from 55,000 to 32,000.