Plan aims to reduce city's web of rail lines by two-thirds

Source: Windsor Star - 08-08-26

The city's railway issues committee has completed a study on a proposed $313-million project that would eliminate two-thirds of the railroad tracks in Windsor.

"That means a lot less interruption, a lot less impact on the neighborhoods," Coun. Fulvio Valentinis, the committee's chairman, said Monday night.

"You're also looking at a different location for a new railway station. You're looking at more efficient movement of goods."

The project has been discussed since 2004, but Valentinis said the study that will go to city council on Sept. 9 contains the technically preferred solution.

If undertaken, the multiphase project would consolidate Windsor's existing lines for Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Railway and Via Rail into one major double-tracked route.

"The main CP line would be the one that carries the traffic," Valentinis said.

The Via line along the riverfront would be closed, and Windsor's train station would be relocated -- "probably in the downtown area."

The city's public works department estimates completion of the first phase alone would cost $175 million and take between five and 10 years.

Valentinis said one of the obstacles to the project is the commitment of CN and CP, both of whom would lose some flexibility in the region as a result of the project.

At the meeting, the committee identified the participation of Transport Canada as a key factor in the project's success.

"They're the ones who can force these people to the table," Valentinis said.

"At the same time, CP has expressed an interest in a new railway tunnel, and this would play into that."

The new railway tunnel -- large enough to accommodate modern container freight cars -- between Windsor and Detroit would add $400 million to the project's cost.

Asked who would pay for it all, Valentinis said the railway companies would be expected to bear the bulk of the cost as the project's major stakeholders, with federal assistance from Transport Canada.

"The railway companies have been part of this (study)," he said.

"This is not just a consultant with a pie-in-the-sky. They have been funders of this particular solution, they have participated."

A public review process will take place after the study goes to council.

Valentinis said the study itself cost about $290,000.

About $100,000 was paid by the City of Windsor.