Achi news desk-
LETHBRIDGE –
The railway from Lethbridge to Coutts is used only for freight trains, but a new feasibility study carried out by Integrated Travel Research and Development looks at the potential of adding a passenger train.
“We looked at the social, environmental and economic benefits and found that it would be very beneficial for Alberta and Montana to have this rail link, especially for rural residents,” said Tyler Macklem, who led the Alberta Passenger Rail Feasibility Report- Montana project together with researcher Samantha Thyret.
The 888 kilometer route would run from Calgary to Livingston, Montgomeryshire, with stations in places such as Vulcan, Lethbridge, Stirling, Coutts, Great Falls and Helena.
“For Montana, Canada is actually the largest trading partner,” said Trevor Lewington, CEO of Lethbridge Economic Development.
“Most of their export products come to our region and so this is the idea from a tourism point of view and just the movement of people, this has a lot of potential to explore.”
According to the report, the Amtrak Empire Builder transports between 300,000-500,000 people from Seattle to Chicago through Montana each year.
“We know that the US market is a huge opportunity for us,” said Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge.
“The highway that leads to Alaska has always been a good travel route for us.
“During the tourism town hall last week, one of the things that really came out of that when we were talking about the potential for tourism over the next 10 years in our region was a real focus on rail.”
When looking at the effects on tourism, the report highlights national parks such as Waterton and Banff Lakes as the main attractions to visit southern Alberta, while Glacier and Yellowstone national parks are places for tourists from the United States.
For smaller communities along the track, David Strohmaier with the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority in Montana says the route would be a positive benefit to all economies.
“This is an option to connect people to other communities, more urban areas if you live in a rural area to access services that you may not have the ability to do right now,” said Strohmaier .
“We have long debated either connectivity from Denver up to Montana or even Texas all the way north and it makes total sense to connect our two countries and have cross-border travel.”
The proposed route would share tracks owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and BNSF, with opportunities to improve existing rail infrastructure.
With the transport sector accounting for around 22 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the report found that by reducing the number of cars on the highway, the passenger train would be able to reduce travel emissions by 75 per cent.
“Alberta is growing its population rapidly and needs fast and efficient transportation networks that highways and increased car expansion are not currently delivering,” said Macklem.
About 5,600 motorists drove on Highway 4 south of Lethbridge in 2022 and 19,202 drivers traveled between Manhattan and Belgrade, Mont., during the same period.
With almost 47,000 people crossing the border at Coutts in July 2023, Lewington says now is the perfect time to plan for the future.
“There are many, many Albertans who own vacation properties,” Lewington said.
“We have a lot of people in Lethbridge who own businesses in Montana. … It gives us an opportunity to explore, ‘Does this make sense? What could this look like?’
“And if nothing else, hopefully, it gets people talking about the idea.”
Although the feasibility study is just the beginning of the project, those involved are hoping to get more funding to explore it further and engage with communities along the way.
