SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — A report by city staff members has advised the Saskatoon city council that there is merit to a proposal by a group of Saskatchwan mayors seeking to reroute VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian from its current route to a less-trafficked line north of the city, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports.
The mayors say that shifting the Canadian to Canadian National’s Prairie North Line, which would take the train through Warman, Sask., 20 miles north of Saskatoon, would serve other communities with a population of more than 128,000, compared to about 22,600 on the current route. (This excludes Edmonton and Saskatoon/Warman, served either way.) They also say the more northerly route would be more scenic and improve timekeeping by shifting the train to a route with less freight traffic [see “Saskatchewan mayors seek to shift route …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 13, 2023].
The report to the council says that the current stop near CN’s yard in Saskatoon, which only generates traffic of about 200 people per year, “falls short of providing a welcoming experience.” A stop in Warman could “revolutionize” that experience, the report says, although it would require significant collaboration with Warman. VIA must also complete an assessment of the Prairie North line’s suitability for passenger service. VIA, in a statement to CTV News, expressed concerns about the investment required for the route’s infrastructure , and the potential impact on travel times.
If you are sold on keeping the train travelling all the way to Vancouver from Winnipeg then why not route it 3 days a week via Brandon, Regina and Saskatoon and then to Warman and Edmonton? A second train 3 x week could be routed via Brandon to Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Medicine Hat to Calgary. Due to the unreliability of these trains through the Rockies I would stop them in Calgary and Edmonton and have individual trains travelling between them and Vancouver. This would provide service 6 days a week, better on time performance since the trains would terminate in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton. A separate trains could be added between Calgary and and Saskatoon via Regina and Winnipeg and Saskatoon via Regina spending upon ridership.
We have to stop ignoring the larger centres of population if we want to improve the financial costs of servicing only small towns.
There’s really only one takeaway from this: When these mayors are up for re-election, DON’T VOTE FOR THEM. They are too detached from reality to serve in any elected position. Or to be qualified for pretty much any job anywhere.
Any further north and there’ll be a stop at the North Pole.
Nah! The “Ice Road Truckers” already have that well covered. lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Road_Truckers
I’m a broken record I know but put the train back on its original route thru Broadview, Regina, Moose Jaw and Swift Current thru Saskatchewan. You can fill in the other provinces and run it daily.
Why not just have split sections?
Why not have a train twice daily instead of two or three times a week.
Why not let the professional railroad planners decide instead of a bunch of hired non rail planners whose only intent is to fill the role they were hired to perform irregardless of the cost to make it happen. And of course, these cities are willing to pay their share of the costs? Oh, no? That what I thought…