The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to abandon its high-speed rail plan as the cost of adding a stop in Kingston is will already add $3.9 billion to the cost, according to CTF estimates.

“This project was already unaffordable for taxpayers with a $90-billion price tag and now it will cost billions more because the Carney government is adding an extra stop,” said Noah Jarvis, CTF Ontario Director. “The project hasn’t even started and it’s already obvious there will be huge budget overruns.”

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the government is ordering Alto to develop a plan that would add a stop in Kingston.

Adding a Kingston stop would extend the line by at least 51.9 kilometres.

The CTF estimates that a high-speed rail line with a Kingston stop would cost taxpayers $3.9 billion more than the original line.

The estimate assumes the additional line would cost $75 million per kilometre, based on the midpoint of the government’s $60 to $90-billion cost projection.

The CTF also estimates that the Alto high-speed rail line would require an additional $2.8 billion in subsidies after the line’s construction with a stop in Kingston. 

The estimate is based on McGill University research that found the government’s original high-speed rail proposal would require $53.1 billion in subsidies over 43 years.

The Alto project is likely to undergo serious cost overruns, according to experts.

The average global rail project experiences a cost overrun of 39 per cent, according to estimates from mega-project scholar Bent Flyvbjerg.

Changing a high-speed rail project’s scope during development is a consistent driver in major cost overruns worldwide.

Scope changes to the Central Valley segment of California’s high-speed rail line have added $5.5 billion in costs to the project.

Cost increases for the United Kingdom’s HS2 high-speed rail project have been driven by scope changes, according to research from the U.K.’s House of Commons Library.

“The government’s $90-billion cost estimate isn’t realistic,” Jarvis said. “Taxpayers can’t afford this boondoggle and it needs to be scrapped.”