A proposal to link Calgary and Edmonton with a high-speed rail service is gaining steam with the news that the provincial government is contributing $50,000 in seed money to study the plan.
But transportation officials say they haven’t set a timeline for the initial research, and that the funding is contingent on the Calgary-based Van Horne Institute raising more capital.
“It’s part of the department’s ongoing business to monitor and examine developments in the transportation field. And it was felt it perhaps may be time to revisit the concept,” said Alberta Transportation spokesman Trent Bancarz.
The Van Horne Institute for International Transportation and Regulatory Affairs promotes research and education of transportation issues, and is affiliated with the Universities of Alberta and Calgary as well as SAIT.
Institute president and CEO Peter Wallis said one of the goals of the “pre-feasibility study” will be to look at the rail-link as an economic development tool, as well as associated issues including costs, right-of-ways, routing and type of rail technology.$50,000 in seed money to study the plan.
“This will be a fresh look at the whole prospect,” Wallis said, referring to previous studies which ultimately rejected the idea of a bullet-style train because of cost and potential passenger volumes.
“Let’s look at the European experience,” urged Wallis. “What has high-speed rail done in Europe to eliminate some of the major congestion issues they’ve faced? Why can’t we learn what’s happened in another part of the world which, from a population density perspective, is much farther ahead than we are?”
Increased security taxes on air services between Calgary and the capital are also increasing interest in alternative short-haul options, he adds.
But funding challenges remain, and the transportation think-tank is now putting out feelers for private and possibly public-sector financial commitments for the study.
“I hope we can come up with like-minded, far-sighted organizations that want to put a stake in the ground relative to the future of economic development in this province,” added Wallis.
Federal Health Minister and Edmonton MP Anne McLellan said recently that Ottawa might be interested in helping develop a rail-link under a special federal fund, but made no specific commitments.
“I think she’s bang-on from the perspective that a high-speed rail link could create an economic unit that’s the backbone linking the two communities of Calgary and Edmonton – and conceptually building up an economic corridor between the two cities as opposed to having exponentially the cities spreading out north and south,” added Wallis.
“As this province grows in size and economic strength, this is a logical way of developing a much larger community base. The concept of living in Calgary and working in Edmonton may sound pretty far-fetched at this point, but . . .”
