Commuter rail revival gets residents talking
Posted Oct 28, 2011 05:25:55 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Potential passengers are lining up to show support for the idea of a commuter rail system in Halifax Regional Municipality.
Regional councillors on the city’s Transportation Committee are re-considering the idea in light of the pending population boom expected to follow the $25 billion shipbuilding contract.
Coun. Tim Outhit (Bedford) told the committee commuter rail is an ideal way to increase traffic to and from the peninsula without adding more cars or buses to the roads.
“I firmly believe commuter rail would get people working and shopping again downtown, and going to restaurants and going to theatres and plays and whatnot downtown and coming back in a nice civilized manner,” he said.
It’s been nearly a year since the last exploration of commuter rail, and the committee members discussed asking regional council to greenlight a $250,000 feasibility study that would include CN Rail.
Although the committee has decided to wait a month before forwarding the idea to council, residents are already excited about the possibility.
“I’ll use it, absolutely. I can’t wait,” Peter told the Rick Howe Show, Thursday. “How are they going to arrange commuter rail in Fall River in terms of parking and where the rail would stop?”
Outhit says that if money can be spent on a feasibility study for a potential multi-use sports stadium in Halifax, than money can be found to settle the issue of commuter rail.
“A preliminary study, just in Bedford, … showed from a capital cost, not from operations, it to be less expensive than setting up fast ferries,” said Outhit.
There’s also the suggestion of having a commuter rail service where train cars would transition into street cars and go right into the downtown.
“The technology exists,” Dave told the talk show. “It can turn 90-degree corners on a downtown street and it can also run on rail tracks. That’s a Canadian company that makes them.”
A city staff report from last winter estimated a commuter rail system would cost about $31 million to launch and about $6.5 million a year to operate.
