The concept of connecting international airports to the downtown cores of Canadian cities has long since escaped the realm of mere fancy. Blue 22, the proposal for a premium-fare commuter rail service between Toronto’s downtown Union Station and Pearson International Airport “designed to complement existing transit services by attracting additional ridership to both the Toronto Transit Commission's and GO Transit's services” by removing as many as 10,000 vehicles per day from the Toronto road network (Queen’s Printer of Canada, 2006), has been on and off the proverbial drawing board since 2003. A downtown-to-airport commuter railway is also in the early discussion stages in Montréal, where The Montréal Gazette’s Henry Aubin reports that the federal and provincial governments are awaiting a consultants’ report this autumn to determine the viability of such a connection (Aubin, 2008). In Vancouver, conversely, the Canada Line light metro connecting downtown Vancouver and the southern city of Richmond anticipates the need for a four-station spur line connecting to Vancouver International Airport by the end of 2009 as something of an ancillary benefit to a mass transit service plan for an urban corridor that is “home to one-third of the region's jobs and 20 percent of its population.…[and] experiences the greatest traffic density and associated problems” (Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc., 2008). The challenge in Calgary’s context is to take advantage of Calgary International Airport’s relative proximity to its downtown while taking maximum advantage of the mass transit tools already in place and creating the least reasonable disruption to transportation and development corridors already in place, and on the basis of the work this document envisions accomplishing to this point, a partial orbital light rail line that interchanges with existing radial lines and also serves airport traffic is the ideal solution to the problem.
Starting from a metro interchange with Line 202 at 88 Avenue Station, Line 205 will follow an underground arc of 800 metres to surface east of 52 Street NE in the Airport Trail median and proceed a further 1,200 metres to arrive at Jacksonport Station, serving that commercial development midway between Métis Trail and 36 Street NE. From there, the line will continue for 2,300 metres in the Airport Trail median underneath the new runway and across Barlow Trail NE before arcing through an underground portal and tunnelling 500 metres to the airport terminal building at YYC Station, before continuing underground an additional 500 metres back to Airport Trail and emerging in that roadway’s median once more to arrive after travelling 400 metres at Stoney Park Station, where Airport Trail intersects 15 Street NE. Line 205 will then proceed westward 1,600 metres, crossing Deerfoot Trail in the Airport Trail median, to Deerfoot Bluffs Station, interchanging at that location with future commuter rail services using the Canadian Pacific Railway corridor, and continue 1,800 metres west to an underground interchange with Aurora Park Station on Line 203. After proceeding 900 metres along Country Hills Road and Country Hills Drive NW to Panorama Crossing Station, at the junction of Country Hills Boulevard and Country Hills Drive NW, Line 205 will continue west in the median of Country Hills Boulevard for 2,300 metres to reach 14 Street Station, and a further 1,500 metres with a southbound turn through a short underground portal into the median of Shaganappi Trail NW to MacEwan Station, where Shaganappi Trail meets the Macewan community pathway. At that point, Line 205 will travel 1,700 metres in the Shaganappi Trail median to Edgemont Station, at the junction with Edgemont Boulevard NW, and a further 2,200 metres to John Laurie Station, at the intersection with John Laurie Boulevard NW, before continuing 700 metres to Northland Village Station, where Shaganappi Trail meets Dalhousie Drive NW, and terminating after a final 700-metre run at Shaganappi Trail Station, a new grade-separated interchange facility connecting Line 205 to Line 201.
The total capital investment required for the full buildout of Line 205 comes to $1,386-million, a figure that could be carried over thirty years in instalments of $69-million from 2034 onward, or financed through an MSI-equivalent funding mechanism from 2031 to 2033 in three instalments of $462-million. The details of the necessary capital investment are identified as follows:
Airport Metro Track and Way of 2.40 km
@ $155-million per km: $372-million
Starting from a metro interchange with Line 202 at 88 Avenue Station, Line 205 will follow an underground arc of 800 metres to surface east of 52 Street NE in the Airport Trail median and proceed a further 1,200 metres to arrive at Jacksonport Station, serving that commercial development midway between Métis Trail and 36 Street NE. From there, the line will continue for 2,300 metres in the Airport Trail median underneath the new runway and across Barlow Trail NE before arcing through an underground portal and tunnelling 500 metres to the airport terminal building at YYC Station, before continuing underground an additional 500 metres back to Airport Trail and emerging in that roadway’s median once more to arrive after travelling 400 metres at Stoney Park Station, where Airport Trail intersects 15 Street NE. Line 205 will then proceed westward 1,600 metres, crossing Deerfoot Trail in the Airport Trail median, to Deerfoot Bluffs Station, interchanging at that location with future commuter rail services using the Canadian Pacific Railway corridor, and continue 1,800 metres west to an underground interchange with Aurora Park Station on Line 203. After proceeding 900 metres along Country Hills Road and Country Hills Drive NW to Panorama Crossing Station, at the junction of Country Hills Boulevard and Country Hills Drive NW, Line 205 will continue west in the median of Country Hills Boulevard for 2,300 metres to reach 14 Street Station, and a further 1,500 metres with a southbound turn through a short underground portal into the median of Shaganappi Trail NW to MacEwan Station, where Shaganappi Trail meets the Macewan community pathway. At that point, Line 205 will travel 1,700 metres in the Shaganappi Trail median to Edgemont Station, at the junction with Edgemont Boulevard NW, and a further 2,200 metres to John Laurie Station, at the intersection with John Laurie Boulevard NW, before continuing 700 metres to Northland Village Station, where Shaganappi Trail meets Dalhousie Drive NW, and terminating after a final 700-metre run at Shaganappi Trail Station, a new grade-separated interchange facility connecting Line 205 to Line 201.
The total capital investment required for the full buildout of Line 205 comes to $1,386-million, a figure that could be carried over thirty years in instalments of $69-million from 2034 onward, or financed through an MSI-equivalent funding mechanism from 2031 to 2033 in three instalments of $462-million. The details of the necessary capital investment are identified as follows:
Airport Metro Track and Way of 2.40 km
@ $155-million per km: $372-million
plus four metro stations (88 Avenue, YYC, Aurora Park, Shaganappi Trail)
@ $92-million each: $368-million
Airport Surface Track and Way of 9.10 km
@ $25-million per km: $228-million
plus nine surface stations (Jacksonport, Stoney Park, Deerfoot Bluffs, Panorama Crossing, 14 Street, MacEwan, Edgemont, John Laurie, Northland Village)
@ $10-million each: $ 90-million
Stoney Park Yard: $200-million
Rolling Stock of 32 LRVs (Avanto)
@ $4-million each: $128-million
The Calgary Airport Authority anticipated the need for a light rail connection in its 2004 “Calgary International Airport Master Plan”, wherein a Public Transport Interchange immediately adjacent to the airport terminal would function as “a convenient interchange between surface access modes and the passenger terminal system” and consolidate public transit access to the airport “in a single area with a separate access system….[to] relieve congestion on the departures roadway” (Calgary Airport Authority, 2004:10-5–10-6). In addition to providing this mass transit alternative for Calgarians seeking access to the Calgary International Airport, Line 205 provides a method for transit passengers in the northern areas of the city to connect to three of the C-Train’s radial lines, as well as to a future commuter rail hub, while still making use both of available median rights of way and of the light rail corridor protected in the “Aurora Business Park Area Structure Plan” to serve both “a wide range of industrial uses” and “office and retail use as well as hotels and motels serving the Calgary International Airport” (City of Calgary, 2008a:23). What Line 205 provides is a robust and effective means of connecting airport passengers, airside and landside commercial and industrial employees, and leisure transit users alike to a city-wide light rail network serving the downtown core and all points beyond — thus bringing the world to the C-Train’s rails in one fell swoop.
Works Cited
Aubin, Henry (2008). “Light at end of the track”. The Montréal Gazette. URL as of 23 Jul 2008 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=e251c9de-e833-49ad-b13b-468dcaffc7e4
Calgary Airport Authority (2004). “Calgary International Airport Master Plan 2004”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgaryairport.com/fts/getfile.cfm?FID=3947
Calgary Airport Authority (2004). “Calgary International Airport Master Plan 2004”. URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgaryairport.com/fts/getfile.cfm?FID=3947
Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. (2008). “Canada Line: Meeting Long-Term Needs”. URL as of 23 Jul 2008 http://www.canadaline.ca/aboutNeeds.asp
City of Calgary (2008a). “Aurora Business Park Area Structure Plan” URL as of 26 Mar 2008 http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/planning/pdf/aurora_asp/aurora_asp.pdf
Queen’s Printer of Canada (2006). “Transport Minister Announces Winning Proposal for Toronto Air-Rail Link”. URL as of 23 Jul 2008 http://www.tc.gc.ca/mediaroom/releases/nat/2003/03-h132e.htm
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