Achi news desk-
The train tracks in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have been abandoned for almost 10 years, but there is a new proposal to get passenger rail in the area back up and running.
“You have a facility in North Sydney, you live in Glace Bay, you could take the train,” Cape Breton University president David Dingwall said.
Dingwall said a battery-powered train, touted as Atlantic Canada’s first light rail, could be a big plus for CBU students and the community at large, especially given the transportation challenges that have occurred as a result of the borough’s growing population and an influx of international students.
“Well if you go to Europe, the Go-Train is the thing, in the sense that you get on a Go-Train and you’re somewhere else in 11 minutes,” said Dingwall. “So you wouldn’t have to buy a car. You would have to buy a ticket.”
“If it’s feasible, it will happen, but we have to decide that first,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston.
Houston confirmed that the Nova Scotia government is spending more than $600,000 to support a feasibility study for the light rail proposal.
Earlier in the week, the province ended its long-time maintenance subsidy of the Cape Breton railway.
However, Houston said he sees potential in CBU’s idea.
“Certainly this is something that is over $100 million, I would think, but we will see what the numbers look like and ‘What are the benefits? What is the cost?’ and we will weigh that in,” Houston told CTV Atlantic on Friday.
Currently, many sections of the tracks along the old Cape Breton-Central Nova Scotia railway are covered with trees and bushes, since the then owner Gennessee & Wyoming brought the Cape Breton section from The line ended in June 2014.
Dingwall confirmed that there had been no consultation yet regarding the new proposal with CBRM.
Town Councillor, Eldon MacDonald, said that although the idea might seem far-fetched, and that it had been floated in Halifax without success, it was worth investigating a feasibility study that the province at least paid for.
“Probably when you first read it, you’re wondering ‘How is that going to happen?'”, says MacDonald. “I think there are other opportunities there, so if light rail would also use that corridor then there are other partners that could help share that cost of redeveloping that line overall.”
CBU’s community engagement and special projects program manager, Kent MacIntyre, said the university had been working with international engineering firm Aecon on a pre-feasibility study.
Dingwall said the organization also plans to ask different levels of government for funding, and get a feel for what people around town think about the idea.
“Consultation with the municipality, which would certainly be number two. Number three is consultations with a variety of user groups,” said Dingwall.
Houston said he expects the first phase, the feasibility study, to take a few months.
