Mayoral candidate Mike Maguire believes phase two of the LRT should be scrapped in favour of a different plan.

Maguire released his transit plan for the city if he was to become mayor. It involves using the current tracks that Via and CN currently roll on. Maguire says he's already had initial talks with CN. 

"We didn't have a much more substantive discussion because obviously these are early days," he says. "But the indication I got from them is that they were very interested in talking."

Maguire's plan expands to all ends of the city, just a lot fewer stops than phase two of the LRT. The other factor is cost.

"It's far, far less expensive. It's $400 million, all costs in. Versus Mr. Watson's phase two LRT plan which would cost us $1.2 billion and won't be ready until 2023."

The majority of the $400 million will go building stations, some of which will feature large park-and-ride areas. Maguire believes there can be trains on the track as soon as next year for parts of his proposal, with full operations underway in two years.

But Jim Watson isn't buying it.

"It's not properly costed, it's not properly planned," Watson says. "And as a result, we would be pushing the reset button, once again, and starting from square one."

The last time an Ottawa mayor bailed on a transit plan, Watson says it cost taxpayers $36 million. But more importantly, it cost the city a lot of credibility. Watson also has serious concerns about the sharing of tracks in Maguire's plan.

"VIA will have the priority. If one of their trains stops or there's a problem with their train, our entire system under Mr. Maguire's plan, breaks down."

In an update yesterday, Watson says the tunnel for phase one of the LRT is 60 per cent excavated. The project remains on schedule and that's why he's confident the Federal government will get on board for phase two.

"Now is not the time to start second guessing and putting together a last minute plan for election purposes. Let's move forward and let's get transit built so we can stop debating it and start riding it."