Edmonton <> Calgary......A Future Corridor?

[jiml]

Not the train to Edmonton that has been previously discussed, but this project is gaining momentum:
https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/calgary-banff-passenger-rail-project-advances/
Where this is of interest to both railfans and passenger train followers alike is that it will utilize the CP ROW out of Calgary previously used by the Canadian, although with some new track construction, plus provide some of the needed infrastructure to support more passenger service to/from Calgary such as the original subject of this thread.

 

[Willbridge]

Not the train to Edmonton that has been previously discussed, but this project is gaining momentum:
https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/calgary-banff-passenger-rail-project-advances/
Where this is of interest to both railfans and passenger train followers alike is that it will utilize the CP ROW out of Calgary previously used by the Canadian, although with some new track construction, plus provide some of the needed infrastructure to support more passenger service to/from Calgary such as the original subject of this thread.

Yes. If it goes from downtown to the airport it is on its way to Edmonton.

 

[Fenu S]

I highly doubt this will go anywhere but it would be progress.

https://www.iheartradio.ca/ctv-news...ports-to-downtown-edmonton-calgary-1.19875111

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I just rode the Canadian from Vancouver to Edmonton, spend a couple days in the area and flew out of Edmonton. The VIA Rail station in Edmonton is the equivalent of an old Amshack (so VIAshack? haha) and is not close to downtown but rather it's close to the rail yard and requires a long slow move into the station.

Would love to see a passenger train bypass that got closer to the city and allowed VIA trains to get in and out quicker. And yes a train from Edmonton to Calgary would be fantastic and could possibly serve the Edmonton airport as well? I'm not sure of the routing.

 

[zephyr17]

I just rode the Canadian from Vancouver to Edmonton, spend a couple days in the area and flew out of Edmonton. The VIA Rail station in Edmonton is the equivalent of an old Amshack (so VIAshack? haha) and is not close to downtown but rather it's close to the rail yard and requires a long slow move into the station.

Would love to see a passenger train bypass that got closer to the city and allowed VIA trains to get in and out quicker. And yes a train from Edmonton to Calgary would be fantastic and could possibly serve the Edmonton airport as well? I'm not sure of the routing.

The old CN passenger line went through downtown and I understand the 60s era passenger station in the first floor of the CN Tower is still there and intact as a ghost station. No platforms or tracks, though. I was in that station in 1986 to catch the Skeena, which was then an Edmonton-Prince Rupert train. Unfortunately I didn't realize it was endangered and didn't take any pictures of it. It was nice, but modern looking so was uninteresting to me at the time.

The east end of the ROW is in use as light rail. The west end has Rogers Arena sitting on it a bit west of the CN Tower. And MacEwan University sitting on it west of that.

The current VIA station is actually on the stub of western end of the old passenger line. It is right off the main line, although the trains are backed in from the wye immediately north of the station. Most of the long slow move at Edmonton is moving through CN's very large and long Walker Yard. The Walker Yard bypass is several miles long, track is "dark" (not signaled), is limited to Yard limit speed, and permission to occupy it must be given by the CN dispatcher verbally. So there is often a long wait to make that long, slow move on the Walker Yard bypass.

It is in a truly terrible location, in an industrial area with absolutely nothing around it.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

I took the CNR Saskatoon to Edmonton and back one winter in the '70s to see/hear Keith Jarret's American Quartet. Only worked because the Edmonton station was downtown then. Saskatoon's was already out at Chappel Yard, but I could get a ride there. Saskatoon's VIA station could be on the edge of downtown in the former CP depot building if there was the will to do that. I'm sure a way could be found to improve things in Edmonton but I don't know that geography well enough to know what or how. Maybe a rail link from Calgary would provide the impetuous?

 

[Willbridge]

Some further background:

+ The former passenger loop was also used for industrial switching and for interchanges between CN and CP. The same was true of the CP line north of Whyte Avenue. (See photo.) The construction of the industrial lines along Refinery Row and in the Davies industrial area provided an alternative route, but it's too far around to be useful for Edmonton<>Calgary service.

+ The connection between the CP and CN at about 110th Street pointed west was broken in order to build the buildings described above. The "need" to avoid the back-up move to the CN Tower Station was cited as the reason for providing a van shuttle instead. This "issue" was a classic railway company argument, because the service was usually run by double-ended RDC's. VIA had enough RDC's that the CP practice of running a conventional train as a back-up would have been unnecessary. And it would have been a shorter back-up than they have for the new station.

+ As I pointed out in the train-off hearing in Red Deer, VIA and CP had turned down Transport 2000's request to swap the Didsbury station (pop. 3288) for Leduc (pop. 12,471). Didsbury, however, had a CP agent who received company mail via the passenger trains. Leduc was growing fast, had hotels serving the international airport, and at the time most flights for Calgary operated out of the Municipal Airport on the other side of Edmonton. The terminal building at Edmonton International Airport is about 3.5 km from the CP line.

+ The City of Edmonton lusted after the potential real estate development of rail yards and proposed the NW LRT line serving the new VIA station area. After the move was made, the proposed LRT alignment was relocated.

+ I left out a lot of-- stuff!

CN Tower Station at 100th Street. The 105th Street Overpass visible in the background.


CP line connecting South Edmonton with Edmonton CN.


CP parallels 109th Street to their own "Downtown" station into the early 1970's.


Shuttle loads up at South Edmonton. It was introduced by VIA Rail. CP left passengers to find their own way.

 

[Fenu S]

The Alberta government is creating a "rail masterplan"

Vision for Alberta’s ‘Passenger Rail Master Plan’

• Calgary commuter rail system connecting airport, surrounding communities to downtown
• Edmonton commuter rail system connecting airport, surrounding communities to downtown
• Regional rail lines connecting Calgary, Edmonton to mountain parks
• Regional rail line connecting Calgary and Edmonton, with transit hub in Red Deer
• LRT systems in Calgary, Edmonton that integrate with provincial system
• Transit hubs in Calgary, Edmonton that connect LRT, commuter, and regional lines

https://calgary.citynews.ca/2024/04/29/alberta-passenger-rail-announcement/