Can Alberta build the best rail system in North America? It’s worth a try

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Sometimes, in the middle of a nightmare, you can suddenly have a pleasant dream.

The nightmare is driving from Calgary to Edmonton, for about the hundredth time, through snow, rain, ice, construction, horrible accidents, crazy drivers and landscapes that become absolutely boring after repeated viewing, especially in winter.

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In the dream this does not happen at all, because you are sitting in a comfortable railway carriage and happily look at the cars that are left behind as if they were stationary toys because you are traveling at 350 km/h.

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The UCP now resurrects the dream of the high-speed train. Few people crave it more than southern Alberta politicians, who must come and go when the legislature is in session.

The continuing dangers became evident in 2015, when Calgary PC MLA Manmeet Bhullar died on the Queen Elizabeth II after being struck by a transport truck while trying to help a driver at the scene of a rollover.

Interurban high-speed rail is a wonderful goal for this highway and for the entire province. It could finally be feasible as the population grows rapidly in large cities.

Imagine trains linking Edmonton and Calgary in a single hour, even with a stop in Red Deer.

Not many people remember that there used to be a railway connection between the cities. The Calgary and Edmonton Railway began service in 1891 (not a typo) and operated until 1985 as a Canadian Pacific Railway line.

My wife remembers riding that train as a child, stopping in many small towns that had sprung up along the route. The quiet Calgary-Edmonton line helped create much of rural central Alberta.

A modern plan for Alberta would have to be much more ambitious than simply catching up with the already outdated Canadian present.

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Premier Danielle Smith discussed the system in southern Ontario and Quebec, which includes Via Rail as well as Go Train trains and buses.

Via Rail is much criticized and is not high speed, but you can take a train in Windsor, at the southern tip of Canada, and travel to Quebec City, a distance of 1,160 km.

The system links Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, and many smaller communities. The Go Train is a long-range intercity commuter service, with trains and buses.

Many people ride those rails while complaining about cost, reliability, and travel times.

It is not surprising. The Ontario-Quebec systems are old. The Go Train, for example, entered service in 1967.

There is nothing in Canada that can compare to France’s TGV (Trains to Grande Vitesse), which have been running for decades, or other high-speed systems in Spain, Italy and Germany. Morocco has a high-speed train between Tangier and Casablanca.

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China has become the world leader in advanced transit. Its high-speed rail network covers 45,000 kilometers, two-thirds of the total length of the world’s bullet train tracks.

As a nation, Canada is increasingly clumsy and out of step with developments elsewhere. It takes decades to approve, plan and build something significant, whether it’s a new cancer hospital or an oil pipeline.

Alberta has the opportunity to break this pattern by creating a world-class integrated transit system with the latest technology.

These trains would replace thousands, even millions, of car trips, leading to lower emissions, safer trips and much greater comfort.

In the UCP plan, there will be rail service from Calgary to Banff. The hydrogen engines are already running.

LRT would connect downtown to Calgary and Edmonton airports. Bypass lines would connect smaller centers to cities (Airdrie-Calgary, for example).

The goals are very ambitious and totally aspirational. There will be many disputes over rights of way, costs and commercial details.

The UCP hopes to have a study completed next year and a work plan by 2027. After that, “delivery” would take 15 years.

That’s a long time to continue pushing QE2. But it would be lovely to dream about it as we stumble across that tortured pavement once again.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
X: @DonBraid

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