Restoring passenger service to Canada’s fourth largest city is a top priority for Transport Action Prairie, so we organized a campaign both at the Supertrain model train show held on April 20-21, 2024. We would like to see intercity passenger services restored between Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton – lost in 1986 – in addition to the proposed Calgary-Banff service to relieve traffic congestion in the national park, and the commuter services being explored by the province. In the longer term, restoring the service on the Canadian Pacific transcontinental route to Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Regina, Winnipeg and westwards toward Vancouver would reconnect many medium-sized cities to Calgary and to each other.
Transport Action volunteers Steve Boyko and Glenn Courtney were joined by national president Terry Johnson, and over the course of the two days many visitors purchased “Canada Needs More VIA Passenger Trains” buttons and signed a petition to the Alberta legislature calling for the creation of an Alberta commuter rail agency to advance the province’s commuter rail plans.
Hundreds of conversations about the need for passenger rail in Calgary showed two trends: People who remembered taking VIA Rail before 1990 thought it was a travesty that the federal government had taken their city’s services away. People who had moved the the city more recently were disappointed the passenger rail in western Canada was so lacking, and some were surprised to learn that that regular services had existed until relatively recently, before falling victim to politics.
The population of Calgary has grown from 738,000 in 1990 to more than 1.6 million today, making the Calgary to Edmonton corridor a logical choice for modern passenger rail investment, and strengthening the cases made in past studies. With growing LRT and transit networks on both cities, it would be relatively easy to get to and from train stations, including shoulder stations to better serve the suburbs. An intercity train operated on the existing conventional route, with capacity upgrades to ensure on-time arrivals for both passengers and freight, would also make it practical to commute from communities like Didsbury and Olds. A new station would be needed in Red Deer, which could be sited near Red Deer Polytechnic.
The infrequency and high cost of travel on the remaining VIA Rail services in western Canada was a concern raised by many visitors, although almost everyone was pleased to learn that the federal government has now committed to funding the renewal of VIA Rail’s long distance fleet. Transport Action notes that seated economy fares in western Canada are almost twice as high on a cents-per-mile basis as Amtrak’s western routes, and that making the economy class service more affordable and attractive to families would be an opportunity for VIA Rail to improve service while awaiting the new fleet.