By Brent Kerrigan and Jennifer Lee
Regional council is going ahead with a pilot light rail project it says will be quick, easy and inexpensive.
The full cost of the project, however, remains unknown and the route itself is still in the planning stage.
John Braaksma, a professor of civil engineering at Carleton University, worked with the region to develop a proposal for a possible light rail station at Carleton University.
Council is studying a Transportation Master Plan drawn up by Dillon Consulting Limited, where Braaksma also works, to determine different routes and the most suitable type of train to use.
“The master plan simply recommends that commuter rail be incorporated as part of the public transportation system,” says Braaksma.
“Council is simply studying the concept to find the best corridor.”
It’s expected the region will choose to run the rail system using an eight-kilometre section of CP track running north from Lebreton Flats to South Keys.
Stations might be located at Carling Avenue, Carleton University and South Keys.
Another possibility is an east-west system running on existing CN tracks from the industrial sector of Kanata to the VIA Rail station, although this route is expected to proceed only as a second phase.
Regional councillors say they would like to introduce diesel-powered trains that are, according to transportation experts, quieter and cleaner than buses.
And though council says it wants this project up and running by December 1999, it still doesn’t know who will build the trains, upgrade the tracks or operate the system.
Regional Coun. Diane Holmes admits she has “absolutely no idea” what the operating costs of the project will be.
She estimates it will cost roughly $10 million to upgrade existing tracks.
Capital ward Coun. Clive Doucet’s best guess is twice that — $20 million.
But he says light rail is, cheaper than building more roads and it will save people time.
“Rail is on time and it’s fast,” says Doucet. “I mean, you can get from Greenboro to downtown in almost six minutes through a very congested area.
Tim Lane of Transport 2000, a local group studying light rail, adds another $2 million to Doucet’s total.
Lane says Dillon Consulting’s estimated the pilot project will cost about $10 million for track upgrade, $11 million for the trains and almost $500,000 annually to rent the tracks.
But despite disagreement over the total cost for the program, most agree on one thing: any new rail system must be fully integrated into current transportation systems if it’s going to work.
Braaksma suggests the region’s transportation system must become “multi-modular”, meaning buses and light rail must come to an agreement regarding both scheduling and pricing.
“The only way this will make headway is for the system to be seamless so the user isn’t faced with impediments.”
Helen Gault, director of planning and operations at OC Transpo, agrees.
“As far as OC Transpo goes,” says Gault, “the key elements to make this system work will be its integration with the other systems in place now.
“Most bus riders will be train riders anyway.”