Notice

The possibility of moving Winnipeg’s rail lines has received a lot of political and media attention in recent years, but no action has been taken. That changed two weeks ago, when the Kinew government announced Lloyd Axworthy would lead a study to determine the feasibility of moving the lines currently located in the city.

With $200,000 in provincial funding for this initiative, Axworthy and his team will assess which lines or rail yards can realistically be moved, the estimated cost of doing so, as well as the potential social and economic impacts of such a move. project.

Supporters of the relocation idea — it’s far too early to talk about a plan — argue that converted rail lands could be used for commercial development, housing, active transportation and open space. They say streamlining could create benefits for rail companies and strengthen Manitoba’s position as a transportation and logistics hub.

This is an ambitious vision for Winnipeg, but the most pressing need and greatest opportunities lie here in Brandon, where the issue of railway relocation continues to be ignored.

Brandon owes its existence to rail transportation – its location was chosen by Canadian Pacific Railway planners almost 150 years ago – but the town is now divided in two by the CPKC and CN lines which pass through each of the east-west routes through the city.

As in Winnipeg, rail cars carrying large quantities of dangerous goods, including toxic chemicals and explosive fuels, pass through Brandon every day, often at considerable speed. Derailments and collisions have occurred over the years, and a number of children and adults have been killed while crossing, working, or playing near the railroad tracks.

This alone justifies considering measures that would reduce the risk, but an even more compelling factor is the fact that the Brandon Regional Health Center – the only major hospital between Winnipeg and Regina – is located just 20 meters from the railway tracks. of CN.

Long trains of tank cars carrying highly combustible Bakken oil – the kind that caused so much damage and loss of life in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, in 2013 – regularly pass by the Brandon hospital. If a similar accident were to occur on the CN line in Brandon, the number of deaths could easily exceed that of Lac-Mégantic ten years ago.

The CN rail line also divides the entire city, with long trains often delaying access to the hospital, impeding the flow of emergency vehicles and lengthening response times for firefighters, ambulances and police. Moving this line to the outskirts of the city would eliminate the threat posed by dangerous goods moving so close to the hospital, while ensuring access to the hospital and improving response times to emergencies.

Moving the CN and CPKC lines to Brandon would free up acres of land that could be used for housing, recreation, commercial development and downtown revitalization without worsening urban sprawl.

This would represent a more efficient use of our existing infrastructure, compared to what would be required for similar developments on the outskirts of the city.

It would also significantly increase property tax revenues for the city and school division, and could spur the development of a new or expanded industrial park on the outskirts of the city.

Most importantly, moving the CPKC and CN lines would make Brandon safer by largely eliminating the volume of toxic and volatile cargo passing through the city.

These are all compelling reasons to consider moving the rail lines into the Wheat City, and this argument is further strengthened by the possibility that some or all of the cost of moving the lines could be borne by the federal government in accordance with to the Railway Moving and Level Crossings Act. .

Manitobans living outside of Winnipeg are often too quick to accuse the province of “perimetritis,” but this may be one of the rare cases where that statement has some validity.

Given the many potential benefits of moving the railway to Brandon — and the likelihood that those benefits could be achieved more quickly and more cheaply than in Winnipeg — it is curious why the Kinew government did not include the second largest city in Manitoba in the Axworthy rail line move. study.

With the study still in its early stages, there is ample time for the government to expand the scope of the study to include Brandon. It’s an idea worth exploring for Wheat City, and one that raises the obvious question: if not now, then when?