Prairie Link signs MoU for Calgary-Edmonton High Speed Rail

On July 8, 2021, Alberta Transport signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prairie Link, a consortium led by engineering firms Aecom and EllisDon, to advance the development of High Speed Rail between Calgary, Red Deern and Edmonton, a project expected to cost around $9bn. Prairie Link expect the project to require two or three years for study and design, followed by up to six years of construction and commissioning, so the project would be completed by 2030.

The notion of high-speed rail — a proven technology around the world — connecting Edmonton, Red Deer, and Calgary in Alberta is not new, but we believe that its time has come.
Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson, Director with EllisDon Capital and Project Director for Prairie Link

Few details have been released by Prairie Link at this stage, although the announcement stated that consultations with Indigenous communities have commenced and indicated that stops would likely include both Calgary and Edmonton international airports as well as the three cities.

Transport Action believes that restoring passenger rail service between Calgary and Edmonton is one of the most obviously needed infrastructure projects in Canada, and this has been studied several times over the past few years. With Alberta’s population expected to grow to between 6.5 and 7.3 million by 2043, primarily in the cities, there will be plenty of demand.

Winter highway conditions and time wasted behind the wheel are known irritants for Albertans, and over a distance of 300 km, a frequent and reliable train service is far more attractive than a short-haul flight. Once the amount of time spent with check-in, boarding, baggage claim and getting to and from airports are taken into account, a frequent 200 km/h conventional express train making the journey in 2 hours 10 minutes would be competitive, let alone 300 km/h or faster high speed rail which would cut the travel time to under 1 hour 20 minutes.

Current passenger services on the route include motorcoach services by EBus, Red Arrow, and Rider Express, plus flights by Air Canada, Air North and WestJet. Following the European model of codesharing between airlines and high speed rail, the new line could release aircraft, gates, and runway capacity at both airports for longer flights and improved services to northern Canada.

Both Calgary and Edmonton have growing Light Rail and transit networks that will provide vital connectivity between new high speed rail stations and the rest of the city. In 2014, the most recent high speed rail report prepared by the Standing Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future recommended prioritizing investment in light rail over pursuing intercity rail service. However, light rail transit in turn strengthens the business case for intercity rail, helping to overcome the issue of car-oriented development patterns in the cities, and significant investments have since been made in both cities.

The potential locations of downtown stations and routes into the downtown cores of Calgary and Edmonton have not been announced; however, the Government of Alberta owns lands south of the Canadian Pacific tracks from the Elbow River to 3rd Street S.E. in Calgary, and the Canadian Pacific Railway rights-of-way from 82nd Avenue to Jasper Avenue, including the rights to the top deck of the High-Level Bridge, in Edmonton, with a view to their future use for such a project. The Florida Brightline project was able to use real estate development around its downtown stations as a significant source of revenue. It is not yet clear whether this is a significant consideration in Prairie Link’s business case, although there would be significant development opportunities associated with the airport stations and Red Deer, where the station would most likely be located on the edge of town.

History

The original Calgary-Edmonton Railway was constructed in 1890-1891, becoming part of the Canadian Pacific Railway network. Passenger service on the route was operated by Canadian Pacific, with “Dayliner” diesel railcars being introduced in 1955 and used up until the end of passenger services in 1985. Ridership had been declining prior to the transfer of CP passenger operations to VIA Rail in 1978, not helped by cuts to service frequency and the closure of CP’s station in downtown Edmonton in 1971, leaving the northern terminus in Strathcona.

In 1981, the federal Railway Transport Committee identified Edmonton–Calgary as the strongest potential market outside of the Quebec-Windsor corridor. VIA Rail lowered fares, expanded ridership, and was considering deploying the then-new LRC trains on the route, replacing the “Dayliners” with a modern express service. Sadly, this was not to be, with all of western Canada’s rail services suffering devastating cuts under Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government, with the last train running on September 6, 1985. We can only speculate on the quality of service the route might already enjoy today has the decision been made to invest instead, keeping western Canada abreast of France, Japan and other leading economies.

Transport Action Prairie Region therefore cautiously welcomes the Prairie Link initiative, hoping that it can be integrated with other public and private sector projects, like the Calgary-Banff passenger rail proposal, to rebuild a rail network fit for one of Canada’s most populous and fastest growing provinces.