Study on rail connection between Calgary airport and downtown to begin this fall
CBC
A study into what a rail connection between the Calgary International Airport and the city's downtown might look like is scheduled to get underway this October.
The City of Calgary and the provincial government announced the study on Monday. It will include reviewing potential ridership, developing and evaluating different alignment scenarios, and identifying the optimal route, the release states.
The study traces back to a $5-million commitment made as part of the last provincial budget.
The Calgary airport connection study is being allocated $3 million of that money, while $2 million will be allocated to the city to initiate design work on the Blue Line extension to aid the airport connection to the east.
An engineering consultant will be recruited to assist with the study, the city wrote in the release. The study will include engagement with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Calgary International Airport, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and private rail developers who are working on similar plans, the release says.
"It's important for us to take a comprehensive look at all factors in this technically and physically constrained corridor to establish an optimal functional alignment that will best serve Calgarians, visitors and employees of the airport and surrounding lands," said Michael Thompson, general manager of infrastructure services for the city, in the release.
"The study will consider existing rail plans, past City of Calgary transit studies and other opportunities, to help guide future transit planning."
A request for proposals is currently in market, the city said. Recommendations from the study will be provided to council.
"We're looking at what the best value is for Calgarians, what the best value is for tourists, for employees, for regional customers in making that connection between downtown and the airport," said Asif Kurji, a program development manager with the city.
"There are private sector rail proposals that we're aware of and so we're agnostic to that right now."
City officials have been discussing plans for a train line to the airport for years. In 2020, city administration outlined a preferred route for a proposed train line to the Calgary airport.
At that time, administration highlighted a route that would connect the future Green Line LRT and an extended Blue Line.
"As Calgary continues to grow, it's vital to have a roadmap to build out a transit network that increases capacity and supports transportation needs, now and into the future," said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's minister of transportation and economic corridors, in the release.
"This project is an important step forward in providing direction on affordable transit infrastructure that will best serve Calgary while respecting taxpayers' investment."
The town of Collingwood, Ont., is under a boil water advisory after a major water main break Friday.
Striking frontline staff at Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS) in Oakville want their residents returned to their original homes for the holidays.
Environment Canada is warning of more rain for the Fraser Valley this weekend and into early next week, even as floodwaters that inundated parts of Abbotsford earlier this week begin to recede.
Nearly a week after it was first opened, service on Line 6 has resumed after it was yet again partially shut down on Saturday.
Students in Inuvik, N.W.T., are learning to cut and fillet fish at the East Three Elementary School on-the-land camp running through December.
Prior to being arrested this week and accused of passing sensitive or classified information to a foreign entity, a Canadian military intelligence member was embroiled in a secret, long-running internal dispute with his superiors, CBC News has learned.
Claire Courty is one of more than 50 high school students contributing to a surge in activity at the regional airport in Medicine Hat, Alta.
Rising waters in British Columbia's Fraser Valley have "not meant good news" for farmers in a part of the province still recovering from devastating floods four years ago, the province's agriculture minister said on Friday.
High water temperatures and low water levels are having a serious impact on Newfoundland and Labrador's Atlantic salmon population, as Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports more than 60 per cent of Newfoundland's salmon rivers remain in the critical zone.
It was a field trip that students in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will never forget.
It was sometime in 2008 that Henry Walter got a message from his lawyer.
When Fredericton High School student Matthew Jeon wanted to start saving money for university, he started applying for summer jobs.
After yet another major flood at the Sainte-Croix Hospital in Drummondville, Que., family doctor Catherine Tétreault says the situation at the facility has reached a point of no return.