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Fast-tracking bullet train
a ticket to nowhere
High-speed rail not really useful
unless anchored by efficient, effective public transit: Flewelling
reprinted from Red Deer Advocate (Laura Tester) December 28, 2011
Premier Alison Redford is being urged to sit down with the mayors of
Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer before any dollars are taken out of a
$2-billion public transit program to fund high-speed rail.
Mayor Morris Flewwelling said the premier should discuss the issue
of high-speed rail and the GreenTRIP program during a sit-down
meeting with himself, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Edmonton Mayor
Stephen Mandel.
He was speaking in reaction to news this week that the premier was
hinting at reworking the GreenTRIP program to support bigger
initiatives, such as the Calgary-Edmonton train link.
"If we're going to be coming to the table, I would say Calgary,
Edmonton and Red Deer should meet with the premier and look at a
fair and equitable way," Flewwelling said on Tuesday. "One of the
things we don't want to see is Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer
squabbling over the money. High-speed rail, even (most other)
transit, cannot be built with municipal resources. It has to be
built with provincial and federal money."
Redford should embark on a 10-year plan involving both transit and
high-speed rail, Flewwelling said.
"Right now, most of the money would be spent on LRT and transit, but
a little bit would also be spent on high-speed rail," said
Flewwelling. "And gradually over the 10 years, the high-speed rail
would get the bulk of the funding," he suggested. "We're just not
putting enough provincial and federal money into municipal
transportation and resources. We tend to want to put it in freeways
and roads."
The Green Transit Incentives Program (GreenTRIP) is intended to
provide Albertans with a wider range of sustainable public transit
alternatives to help increase transit ridership, reduce traffic
congestion and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Last September, the Alberta government donated $12.1 million from
GreenTRIP to the City of Red Deer so it could buy 40 new low-floor
transit buses. Some Edmonton and Calgary leaders are wondering what
the impact could be on future bus and LRT projects if some GreenTRIP
funding is reallocated.
There's no use pushing high-speed rail faster than local transit,
Flewwelling said.
"High-speed rail is not really useful unless each anchor point is
served by an efficient and effective internal transit system,"
Flewwelling said. "There's no use getting dumped off without a car
if you are nowhere. There has to be an intensive upgrading of LRT
and bus lines in each of the centres."
Flewwelling said he'd like to see the train stop in downtown Red
Deer underneath Sorensen Station transit terminal and not on the
west side of Hwy 2 outside Red Deer.
The topic of building a high-speed rail system between Alberta's two
largest cities has been bandied about for several years, but so far
there's no definite plans as to when construction is likely. In July
2009, former Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette predicted a
high-speed train was 15 years away from having its first passengers.
In 2009, a high-speed rail study commissioned by the province looked
at five station stops along the Hwy 2 corridor -- the airports in
Calgary and Edmonton, downtown Calgary and Edmonton, and an
unidentified stop at Red Deer.
That consultants' report evaluated four types of trains -- from the
slower 200-km/h diesel electric train, which would take two hours to
travel from Calgary to Edmonton, to the 480-km/h magnetic levitation
train, which would deliver passengers to their destination in one
hour.
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