What will it take to get the Hamilton LRT up and running?

Stakeholders are feeling optimistic

Good Tuesday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer.

ABOVE THE FOLD

It’s been a roller coaster ride to get the Hamilton LRT back on track. The on-again, off-again Steeltown project is now backed by a whopping $3.4 billion in construction cash from governments. And last week, city councillors voted to get the ball rolling to negotiate a draft agreement with Metrolinx that would lay out local operating and maintenance costs.

The latest move has proponents of the resurrected project feeling more hopeful than ever. Here’s what they had to say about the fate of the LRT — and when and if they think it will be constructed.

KEANIN LOOMIS, president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce: “I’m more optimistic now than I ever have been. Last year, at this time, I was probably the most pessimistic I had ever been. So it really has done a complete 180. With the federal government coming to the table [with funding], which wasn’t part of the equation before, we’re nearing over 90% probability on…