Calgary Regional Rail Transit

[adamyyc]

Buses don't lead to the economic spinoffs that are the real prize. Having transit to Banff and the airport for Calgarians is the gravy on this turkey dinner economic development project.

Opening this train will be a huge deal in the rail-fan, and rail-tourism community. It will be huge for hotels and conventions in Calgary. It will be huge for the airport - creating a much better connection to our relatively high yielding destination (you don't have to tilt the case by much to make Calgary a more appealing superconnector than Vancouver). It will be huge for Banff, which can now pitch transit oriented hotels, to increase visitation without increasing the number of cars. All those things make it awesome without even talking about transit for Calgarians and Albertans.

The project makes too much sense really, but the benefits are really spread out in a way that isn't entirely capture-able.

And yeah, UPX is bad if you think of it as soley transit. If you think of it as 'this enables more head offices to by in downtown; and enables the convention market to grow; and enables downtown hotel rooms to grow'—then it makes sense. Downtown Toronto had lots its 'close to the airport' credibility.

There are lessons to be learned from UPX too obviously! Once Metrolinx stopped thinking of it solely as an airport to downtown link, stopped charging outlandish fares, and started thinking of it as an extension to the TTC/GO networks, ridership improved drastically.

 

[Surrealplaces]

This latest news is exciting.

 

[Urban Outdoorsman]

Project website https://banffecotransithub.ca/

Has a neat little explainer video with lots of renders

 

[zagox]

Liricon is still working on this.

Parks Canada is still working against this ...

 

[YYCguy]

Parks Canada is still working against this ...

Would it have gotten this far down the pipe if Parks Canada was vehemently against it? Parks Canada must see some benefit to taking more cars off the roads!

 

[MichaelS]

I think it is the gondola from the Banff train station to Mt. Norquay that Parks Canada is opposing, not the train. Which is a shame, that gondola would be amazing. Literally make a skiing day trip from Calgary so much easier with a train and then gondola straight to the hill!

 

[darwink]

Parks Canada is still working against this ...

As with most thinks Parks Canada does, they are against until they conclude otherwise. The new CEO may help, and a changeover in the Heritage Ministers Office is always helpful.

I think it is the gondola from the Banff train station to Mt. Norquay that Parks Canada is opposing, not the train. Which is a shame, that gondola would be amazing. Literally make a skiing day trip from Calgary so much easier with a train and then gondola straight to the hill!

Yeah - the previous proposal was rejected as a loss of cycling amenity as the road was proposed to be closed to the public.

Whether a negative thing in the park is enough to reject something or whether a trade off is worth it is pretty subjective. Parks Canada a few years back imo was more concerned about the visual effect of the gondolas than the myriad of benefits ecology wise.

 

[Urban Outdoorsman]

It'll be cool if both the train and bike path to Banff are completed. I'd love to bike to Banff/Canmore in a day and take the train back to Calgary. The two together create some interesting adventure opportunities

 

[MichaelS]

Why would they need to close the road for the gondola? I thought one of the main advantages to a gondola, was they required minimal footprint on the ground. Surely you could space the support towers in a way that still allowed the road to stay open.

 

[darwink]

Why would they need to close the road for the gondola? I thought one of the main advantages to a gondola, was they required minimal footprint on the ground. Surely you could space the support towers in a way that still allowed the road to stay open.

The thought was that Parks Canada would appreciate the road closure to reduce environmental impact and then accept the minimal impact of the gondola. Turned out, not so much.

 

[Surrealplaces]

It'll be cool if both the train and bike path to Banff are completed. I'd love to bike to Banff/Canmore in a day and take the train back to Calgary. The two together create some interesting adventure opportunities

I was thinking the same thing. That's be very cool....though I'd probably take my bike on the train there, and ride it back. More downhill on the way back

 

[Mountain Man]

I'd take my mountain bike to Banff or Canmore, ride the trails all day, then train back! Not sure how they would feel about the dirt on the train though haha.

 

[MichaelS]

The thought was that Parks Canada would appreciate the road closure to reduce environmental impact and then accept the minimal impact of the gondola. Turned out, not so much.

Sigh.. I get that we need to protect our environment, but if we are planning to add another million people to the region, and trying to attract a greater number of tourists, we should not be actively limiting access to already existing recreational facilities within our parks!

 

[zagox]

Sigh.. I get that we need to protect our environment, but if we are planning to add another million people to the region, and trying to attract a greater number of tourists, we should not be actively limiting access to already existing recreational facilities within our parks!

“actively limiting access to already existing recreational facilities within our parks” is Parks Canada’s unofficial mission statement

 

[ByeByeBaby]

Interesting article on this proposal.

‘Layer cake of conflicts of interest’ on Calgary-Banff rail project that is asking for $30 million a year for 50 years from Alberta government​