13 April 2009
Keep Airport Link Simple, Gazette Readers Say
The Dorval train station has commuter and cargo rail lines in
Montreal. A light rail has been proposed from downtown to the airport and it is proposed cargo and commuter no longer share
tracks.
Montreal Quebec - We asked; you answered.
The Gazette asked readers in Saturday's edition to help local urban planners agree on a route for the proposed new shuttle train
between downtown and Trudeau airport.
Since then, more than 75 readers spent part of the Easter weekend writing us to offer their opinions.
Readers were clear. They want to see the Canadian Pacific Railway right of way chosen for the shuttle, not the Canadian National
corridor.
"The no-brainer choice is the CP route," reader Joel Schwartz wrote.
"It is cheaper, faster, and it passes through existing (commuter-train) stations and most important, it will have
direct connections with metro stations and a major hospital (the proposed new McGill University teaching hospital beside Vendome
station)."
The CP tracks currently carry the Dorion-Rigaud commuter train. The CN route is the one that VIA Rail trains use. The CP
line runs through Montreal West, Notre Dame de Grace, and Westmount. The CN line runs through Ville St. Pierre, St. Henri, Point St.
Charles, and Griffintown.
In an article Saturday titled Pick a Route to the Airport, The Gazette described how the shuttle project has been delayed in the
planning stages because of indecision over which of the rail routes to choose.
New tracks would be laid for the exclusive use of the shuttle. There's room on both corridors for new tracks.
The two agencies overseeing the planning process - the Aeroports de Montreal and the Agence metropolitaine de transport - are trying
to engineer a consensus on the route issue. They are jointly overseeing a steering committee that includes representation from all
three levels of government.
The provincial government wants to see the committee come to a consensus by June - failing which the government says it will decide.
The steering committee is receiving input from railway consultants and an advisory committee that includes representation from
downtown and West Island community groups.
While new planning details could still come to light before now and June, the essential policy dilemma is this:
- Should the main objective of the new shuttle be to provide the quickest connection between downtown and the airport, at the lowest
possible price?
If so, the CP option looks to be the better one. It's the shorter route, meaning capital and operating costs would be lower.
- Or should the shuttle project be used to leverage spinoff benefits, in the form of urban development in old industrial
neighbourhoods?
If so, then the CN line is hard to resist. Putting a new rail link and new train stations into St. Henri, Point St. Charles, and
Griffintown could spark major new growth in the area - and new property-tax revenues for the cash-strapped
city of Montreal.
Gazette readers took the view that the shuttle project should stick to the basics - the fastest possible service at the lowest
possible price.
But there were exceptions. Among those favouring the CN alternative was Karl Moore, a professor of management at McGill University,
who wrote:
"I support the CN route because it would provide a needed and potentially very helpful economic stimulus and transportation
connection to a part of Montreal that could very much benefit from it.
"New train stations would almost certainly result in further economic development and a revitalization of some of the surrounding
areas.
"I believe that Montreal should think long-term as it considers this project; this is an infrastructure project that
will be used for decades to come."
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