It has been twenty years since Via Rail's Dayliner carried passengers between Calgary and Edmonton. The service was cut because of lack of ridership. At the time, only 19,000 of the 2,400,000 trips made between Alberta's two largest cities were made by train. The number two highway was an open road back then and fuel was cheap and most people, rural and urban, drove cars or trucks almost everywhere they went.
Times have certainly changed and the Calgary-Edmonton corridor is now the fastest growing economic region in the country. Today, the Queen Elizabeth Highway sees regular bumper to bumper traffic and the price of fuel has doubled in the last two years; also, more and more of Alberta's city dwellers are using public transit. Is there now a travel market in the area to make a proposed highspeed train service economically viable? According to a study released by the Van Horne Institute for International Transportation Regulatory Affairs, there is.
The 129 page study, released in October of 2004, includes an Ipsos-Reid survey of 1200 people who travel between Calgary and Edmonton. Of the people polled, 22% said they would pay $45 to for a one-way trip that took two hours or less. According to Peter Wallis, CEO of the VH Institute, that would be enough people to make HSR a profitable service. "The study demonstrates that it [HSR] will pay for it's self." Wallis points to the survey data and business model that is also part of the study.
The study examines, in great detail, the three most realistic options for HSR to be brought to Alberta. A magnetically levitated train that reachs speeds of 500kph was looked at breifly. Unfortunately, it would cost about $15 billion to build the elivated "special structure" of electro-magnets (at the the train does not physically touch) between Calgary and Edmonton. As a result of this kind of technology's extremly high price tag, there is only one such service in the world which is a scant 29 killometres in Shanghi China between beween the city's financial district and its airport.
The study focuses on convential rail systems that are much more affordable but still capable of provideing a desireable trip time. In Eurrope, TGV (tres grande velocity) trains reach speeds of 330 kph. The electricity that powers each of these vehicals from an over-head wire and down through a roof-mounted gantry (simalar to those on LRT vehicals). The VHI exstimates that is would cost $3.7 billion to construct this new line in our provence. If this investment were made, two new pairs of very straight fenced-off track would be requiered. No level road crossings would be allowed.
If the same track were built without the overhead wires about a billion dollars could be saves and a new non-electric locomotive made by Montreal-based Bombarier. The Jet Train is designed specifically for North America's non-electric rail network. So far, it has only been put into service in the Boston-New York-Washinton corridor. On good straight track, the Jet Train could go as fast as 240 kph.
If yet another billion dollars were sparred, a Jet Train locomotive pulling passenger cars would have to share the existing CPR line with frieght traffic. However, this route was selected almost a hundred years ago for trains not expected to exeed 80 kph. The line would have to be straightened as much as possible. All level road crossings would need to be removed.
Regardless of the technology chosen, the study forcasts the construction of five stations. One in Red Deer, one in each of Alberta's big downtown cores, and one at each of the international airports (which would be especially benifical for Edmontonian air travelers who face a lengthy cab ride to or from the city).
The start-up costs include construction the track, five stations, mainatinance facilities and rail vehicals. However, the start-up costs are not something that Ralph Klein's conservatives government is interested takeing on. "I'm as keen as the private sector." Klein said shortly after takeing a ride on Amtrak's high speed line in New York eariler this year, "I'm not keen on paying for it. Nor will we."
A lack of government support for HSR is significant. Most rail projects receive considerable public money due to the very high capital costs involved. However, one member of the privet sector, a new company called Alberta High-Speed Rail Inc., has shown interest in getting involved. Company president Bill Cruikshanks, although secretive about details of his company's involvment, did say that he beleived an electric TGV-style train could be brought into service for less money than the Van Horne Institute's study estimates.
The project also faces another significant challenge: the size of the travel market. Dispite having one of the fastest growing ecconomies in North America, the Calgary-Edmonton corridor is still only the 25th largest population centre on the contenent. Florida, a state of 13 million people, recently voted against the construction of a high-speed rail line. Would Alberta's smaller population provide the travelers that the Van Horne's study insists? Although use of public transit in riseing, people in this province are still largely automobile- dependant.
A report released in 2003 by TD Bank Financial Group looks closely at the regon's ecconomic out-look. The report sited urban sprawl and traffic congestion as one of its biggest challenges. With the cost of operating automobile being a growing challenge to everybody, it seems natural that eventually trains will again carry passengers between Calgary and Edmonton.