(The Canadian Press circulated the following story by Dina O’Meara on May 23.)
CALGARY (CP) – Via Rail is taking part in a feasibility study for a bullet train between Calgary and Edmonton but expects funding will have to come from the Alberta government, the federal Crown corporation’s top executive said Wednesday.
Via Rail, Canada’s national passenger rail service, brought its 30 years of expertise to the feasiblity study, and nothing more, president and chief executive Paul Cote said. “This is not a Via Rail decision,” he said, about the project. “But we don’t want to disassociate ourselves from development of research and design of this project.”
Cote said the provincial government would likely take the lead on building a bullet train between the two cities.
In the meantime, Via is discussing options for the passenger service in Eastern Canada with Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon,”ote said.
“We are looking at different scenarios, and are encouraged there is a dialogue.”
Cote would not divulge details of the discussions, which focused on the Quebec City-Windsor, On. corridor, but said Via Rail would act accordingly once the minister went public with the government’s plans for the passenger service.
In the West, Via Rail would enjoy resuming the spectacular Rocky Mountain run, but haven’t been successful negotiating track usage with Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX:CP).
“Since we stopped servicing Calgary in 1990, we’ve always made it clear that if there was a possibility for us to come back here and offer to Calgary through Lake Louise to Vancouver, we’d like to do that,” he said.
However, CP Rail has argued that car and bus travel on improved highways through the mountains have made such an option obsolete.
“We don’t see that it would be a viable service,” CP Rail spokesman Mark Seland said, adding the company hasn’t been approached by Via Rail in two years.
Via Canadian passenger trains haven’t operated on the CP Rail route since the early 1970s, Seland said.