Calgary Alberta - Calgary's history is undeniably linked with that of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
 
Were it not for the surveyors who traced the route of this country's first transcontinental rail link, a whole host of communities across western Canada would simply not exist.
 
Despite the ties that bind Canadian Pacific to this city, there are growing signs of strain.
 
The latest manifestation of this rocky relationship appeared at Calgary city council last week.
 
Coun. Evan Woolley, citing concerns relating to the shipment of dangerous goods and the spectre of a disaster on the scale of the deadly Lake Megantic oil train explosion, suggested it was time to revisit the possibility of getting CP to remove its tracks from the city centre altogether.
 
According to Woolley, some businesses adjacent to the railway are so concerned, they are looking at moving away.
 
This is to say nothing of the traffic inconveniences of having long freight trains rumbling through the handful of level crossings downtown and in Inglewood.
 
And then, of course, there's the noise.
 
While it would be intriguing to see if it's possible to reroute freight trains away from Calgary's downtown core, several issues immediately come to mind.
 
For one, there isn't a rail equivalent of a ring road around Calgary, so it's not as simple as just saying "you can't come through here, go somewhere else."
 
Ripping up CP's tracks downtown would mean having to replace them with new tracks elsewhere.
 
It's going to be a given residents of existing inhabited area in Calgary will not tolerate a new freight line slicing through their subdivisions, so a re-route would probably have to happen beyond suburbia.
 
There's no guarantee our rural neighbours would want a new rail line anymore than city dwellers want the existing one.
 
It's also worth noting the train line that cuts through the downtown core isn't just some branch operation.
 
It was the transcontinental main line when it was built and it remains so to this day.
 
Feeding off the line are many industrial businesses near downtown directly served by rail and their access would have to be maintained in some way, whatever happens.
 
Now, the biggest questions, should this idea to tear up and relocate the train tracks be feasible, will Canadian Pacific go along with it?
 
And who's going to foot the bill?
 
It's not just about acquiring property, demolition and construction, but also the little matter of rehabilitating and decontaminating the land left behind.
 
Fuel, chemicals, and other substances have likely leaked from rolling stock and railroad equipment over the decades.
 
(And you thought you'd heard enough about creosote already.)
 
Not to be forgotten are many related considerations, including those to do with projects to bring regularly scheduled passenger rail services back to Calgary.
 
Whether it's the return of scheduled tourist services, the long-touted plan for regional commuter rail, the distant dream of a new high-speed link with Edmonton or the restoration of transcontinental passenger services, trains would presumably need access to downtown Calgary.
 
In the event Canadian Pacific's tracks and other facilities are torn up, we'd still need to hang onto some of the land and protect the right-of-way so passenger trains will have somewhere to go, should it ever be decided they are making a comeback.
 
If city councillors do decide to study the proposed re-route of freight trains away from the core, there will clearly be no shortage of matters to discuss.
 
Ricky Leong.