They aren’t similar at all. While the core segment of the Ontario line is underground, there’s a significant portion which is at grade, or elevated. I feel that they are getting far better value for that 19 billion than we are. They actually went through the exercise of balancing costs with the concerns of N̶I̶M̶B̶Y̶ residents. The Ontario line puts the ARTM’ planning PSE to shame. It just isn’t in the same league.
Assuming that they respect the design, the stations that they are going to be getting are very well integrated into their neighborhoods and have distinct identities. They look like the type of nice modern stations that you would expect in a metropolis. In comparison, the REM stations look like glass boxes. Assuming that they actually build as designed, the Ontario could very well overshadow the REM and become the new standard in terms of expectations.
To put it that way, we just got quoted 36 billion for PSE, learned within a day that did not include expropriations, and that probably does not account for any problems that they might encounter along the way, or anything that might end up getting tacked on because of local actors. That probably puts the project comfortably in the 40 billion range.