LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — The Canadian government has begun the process of expropriating land for the planned Lac-Mégantic rail bypass after being unable to negotiate land purchases, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced Monday.
“I understand that some of the landowners are angry, saddened or anxious about this decision,” Alghabra said in a statement. “Believe me, it was not taken lightly. However, we must not lose sight of the project’s core objective, eliminating trains travelling through downtown Lac-Mégantic. To make this project a reality, we must move forward.”
Landowners were contacted by email and telephone on Monday, Alghabra said, and will receive official notification by registered mail.
Negotiations began in 2021 to acquire the land needed to reroute Canadian Pacific tracks away from the site of the July 2013 disaster that killed 47 people [see “Land negotiations begin …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 8, 2021]. They were extended three times, pushing the project past its original goal of completion this year.
Alghabra had visited the Lac-Mégantic area in January to address resistance to the project, which includes a referendum set for Feb. 19 in the town of Frontenac, east of Lac-Mégantic and on the bypass route [see “Facing opposition to bypass plan …,” News Wire, Jan. 23, 2023].
They are literally between a rock and a hard place.
I don’t think the objection is the purchase price. I think the objection is not wanting the railroad near them.
They don’t want a railroad running through their backyard so they force it into my backyard.
Fine for you, not so much for me.
I certainly can understand that people in Lac Megantic are very very very very angry about trains. But think of what the transport minister is saying. You cannot take trains out of cities. Nor would you want to, as cities include both passengers and frieght shippers.
Think of what this world would look like if every city built a rail bypass. One resident of Waukesha, Wisconsin, suggested trains be re-routed out of her city. I know the area acre by acre (part of Waukesha is annexed from the Town of Brookfield, where I live). I couldn’t come up with an alternate route to save my soul, no matter how many dollars or how many decades be invested.
Don’t want trains in their town. Won’t accept the offers for land sale either.