BOW VALLEY— The Town of Cochrane is taking steps to pursue a mass transit system from Calgary to Banff through the endorsement of a memorandum of understanding with neighbouring communities.
Council endorsed the signing of the memorandum of understanding to establish the Bow Valley Corridor Alliance at the Jan. 18 regular meeting.
It is anticipated that the Alliance will result in a long-term relationship between the participants until a fully operational, efficient, and effective mass public transit service is established in the Bow Valley Corridor between Calgary and Banff.
The idea of formalizing a memorandum of understanding serves as a way to help ensure local municipalities are represented as high levels of government become involved with the project, said Town of Cochrane CAO Mike Derricott.
The agreement has already been ratified by the City of Calgary and other partners are in the process of having it reviewed by their councils.
“It’s our hope that we will soon have a signed MoU from all participating members and that we can continue to work together to prepare for and advocate for the potential of a significant transit system in the Bow Valley corridor,” Derricott said.
Derricott said the costs and payments of the project have yet to be approved, and several steps need to be taken before discussing specific frameworks.
The Town of Cochrane, the Town of Banff, The Town of Canmore, First Nations, the City of Calgary and Improvement District 9 initially partnered in 2018 to commission a feasibility study to examine mass transit as a way to reduce the traffic congestion, environmental impacts and several factors along the Bow Valley corridor and in the national park.
An Alberta Community Partnership Grant of $35,000 was provided by the Alberta government to study the feasibility of establishing a mass transit service between the partner communities.
CPS Transom Limited was hired by the Town of Banff to complete the study with data from municipalities and regional stakeholders.
The study was released in February 2019 and indicated that a bus or rail transit service between Calgary and Banff National Park would be possible.
“The rail option would basically be a twinning or a use of the existing CP rail corridor with some added track and stops along the way,” Derricott said.
In the summer of 2020, The Town of Cochrane and other key stakeholders were engaged by the Province of Alberta to discuss a memorandum of understanding between the Canada Infrastructure Bank to access the feasibility of a new passenger rail service between the Calgary International Airport and Banff. There is the potential for stops in between on the route.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank is currently undertaking a more detailed feasibility study.
The Government of Canada, The Government of Alberta, and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank have signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct a feasibility study for passenger rail service between the Calgary International Airport and Banff National Park.
“This is our feasibility study on steroids, if you will, to really dig into this idea and to see whether or not there is a project to be made,” Derricott said.
The results of the study are expected in the spring and will be a critical moment for the future of the project.
A draft memorandum of understanding has been developed to help guide further discussions of the mass transit system in the Bow Valley region. Cochrane, Banff, Canmore, Calgary and Stoney Nakoda First Nation continue to discuss the municipalities' shared support to develop the project.
The project will be largely taken by the federal and provincial governments, Derricott said. He noted communities may have the opportunity to engage in more direct ways regarding routes, transit and other factors.
Mayor Jeff Genung, who serves as chair for the group, said the memorandum of understanding will serve as understanding on how groups will work together. The document will serve “as the rules of engagement” with the ultimate hope the group could become a stakeholder and have some say in how things are produced or next steps of the project.
Genung said the group has narrowed in on the rail solution, but steps have been taken to keep the project broad-based and not limited to only one option.
He added the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board has identified transit routes and potential future transit routes. Genung has asked for the rail project to be put on the map as a future transit way.
“We can utilize that as another way of proving to the province and federal government that the region itself thinks this is a really good thing to have,” Genung said.
Councillor Alex Reed noted the environmental impacts of the project are especially important, as it has the potential to help get thousands of cars off the road.
Reed said he is grateful for the memorandum of understanding because of the important role it will have in ensuring municipalities will have a voice if the project comes to fruition.
“So often, in projects like this it becomes a federal and provincial jurisdiction that is then downloaded on the municipalities,” Reed said. “I think it’s really great that we’re at the table.”
