(The Canadian Press circulated the following on August 10.)
CALGARY — A new report says a high-speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton is economically feasible.
Global TV Calgary said the report done for the Alberta government is based on interviews with 5,000 motorists, 1,000 air travellers, and 700 bus users.
The multibillion-dollar project would offer high-speed travel between the two cities, as well as Red Deer, which sits in between.
An average trip between downtown Calgary and Edmonton would take about 84 minutes and cost $130 for a round trip.
The Alberta government will release the report later this month.
Premier Ed Stelmach, who earlier this year called the rail-link “inevitable,” reiterated his support for the project Thursday.
“If we could remove or reduce 25 per cent of the cars off Highway 2, it not only reduces CO2 and other pollution, but it will also reduce future costs of widening the highway and also the repair on the road,” Stelmach said while attending the premiers’ meeting in Moncton, N.B.
Bill Cruickshanks, president of Alberta High Speed Rail, the private company that hopes to build the project, said the train would allow people to commute daily between Calgary and Edmonton.
“You can have people working in Edmonton in the morning and Calgary in the afternoon and still be home in time to have their evening meals with their family,” Cruickshanks said, adding that accidents on Highway 2, the main north-south highway in the province, would be reduced with less motor vehicle traffic, especially during the winter.
Peter Wallis, president of the Van Horne Institute, which conducted a preliminary study on the rail link, said the project will attract more businesses to the provinces.
“Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton would be looked at as one economic unit,” he said.
Global TV said the government has already bought land in downtown Edmonton and Calgary to accommodate train stations.