(Canwest News Service circulated the following on September 28, 2009.)
OTTAWA — Canadian Pacific Railway has been quietly advancing plans for a new $400-million rail tunnel under the Detroit River and will probably start digging two years from now.
A construction permit for the tunnel has already been issued in the U.S., sources said, but the environmental assessment process has just begun on the Canadian side and will take up to 18 months.
CP and its partners have been quietly lining up Canadian political support for the rail-only project, although excavation probably won’t start for at least two years, sources indicate. The number of construction jobs alone to be created by the project will run into “thousands,” according to one.