A Calgary city council committee got a look Wednesday at what passenger train service to the city’s airport could look like.
The new preferred route presented would see a train that runs east-to-west and connect an extended Green Line to the Blue Line in the northeast before stopping at the airport.
“Whether you’re travelling regionally, or inner-city rail, a connection airport is critical,” says Coun. Jasmine Mian. “That’s why there’s so many of us who are interested in that, and I think that’s why we need to look at this very closely.”
The alignment would also enable the possibility of linking a train into a privately run high-speed regional rail line from downtown Calgary to Edmonton.
However, with uncertainty already swirling around Calgary’s beleaguered Green Line project, Mian says it will all depend on funding.
“What we have to have first is a political priority and will on which of these projects will go forward,” she says. “I think ideally you want to do all of them, but I don’t personally think we’ll be able to do all of them.”
“It really comes down to which of these projects can get funding.”
It leads to the question of whether council should even be discussing a line to the airport that connects with the Green Line when that project is still up in the air.
But, Mian says with the right finding and resources, both projects can become a reality.
“We just need to, as political leaders in the city and this province, be rowing in the same direction,” she says.
Last year, the UCP government revealed it was aiming to develop a master plan for a province-wide passenger rail network.
The six part plan, to be developed, includes commuter rail that would connect Calgary and Edmonton to their airports and surrounding communities, and a high speed regional rail line between the province’s two largest cities.
The province said the master plan is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025 and would include “a 15-year delivery plan” that would aim to see the projects completed by 2040.