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Surrey will have to compensate TransLink for the money the transit authority has already spent on the suspended Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail project.

Members of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council approved a resolution to that effect on Thursday, and also voted to have staff begin planning for a SkyTrain project down Fraser Highway.

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Last month the council, at the request of the City of Surrey, suspended work on the planned $1.65-billion light rail line, which was fully funded by three levels of government and had been in the works for years.

TransLink staff came back with a work plan for proceeding with SkyTrain between Surrey and Langley, which was a campaign promise of Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who was elected in October.

The costs associated with the project — and its merits — were hotly debated by Mayors’ Council members.

A major issue was the money that TransLink has spent over the past four years planning for light rail, including preparing business cases, doing pre-construction work and procurement. The total cost of that work is $56.6 million.