CALGARY, Alberta — The Province of Alberta will provide C$3 million in funding for a study of a rail link between Calgary’s downtown and airport, the Calgary Herald reports.
The study will consider alternatives including a long-discussed extension of Calgary Transit’s light rail Blue Line and the proposed service that would link the airport, downtown, and Banff [see “Alberta government turns down Calgary-Banff rail proposal,” Trains News Wire, July 7, 2022].
The city’s general manager of infrastructure, Michael Thompson, said in a statement the city needed to “take a comprehensive look at all factors,” and that the study “will consider existing rail plans, past City of Calgary transit studies, and other opportunities to help guide future transit planning.”
The airport is about 6 miles north of downtown Calgary. Calgary’s CTrain light rail station currently operations two lines covering 59.9 kilomters (37.2 miles) and 45 stations, and is building a third, the 20 kilometer (12 mile) Green Line. But that expansion runs from downtown to the southeast, in the opposite direction from the airport.
It is sad that the Banff proposal was missed, would help with the traffic issue in Banff.
CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail rapid transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Much of the system functions as a high-capacity light metro, while in the downtown free-fare zone, trains transition into a tram with a dedicated right-of-way. The CTrain began operation on May 25, 1981 and has expanded as the city has increased in population. The system is operated by Calgary Transit, as part of the Calgary municipal government’s transportation department] In 2022, the system had a ridership of 61,889,500, or about 240,300 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023, making it one of the busiest light rail transit systems in North America. Approximately 45% of workers in Downtown Calgary take the CTrain to work.
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