Quote:
Originally Posted by fusili
And how will trains access the yards in the SE. As much as I hate the downtown CPR tracks, I think we just have to face the fact that they are here to stay. I would imagine the cost of removing them and rerouting the tracks would be in the billions.
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Google maps shows that at the east portal, the Nose Creek CPR tracks that head north to Red Deer and Edmonton also head south parallel to Deerfoot, across Memorial, over the Bow, through Inglewood, past 17th & Blackfoot, and into the Odgen Yards.
Costs for tunneling are typically $75 M per KM; portal-to-portal distance is around 11 KM = $825 Million (BTW The Mount Macdonald Tunnel under Rogers Pass is 14.5 KM and cost $500 M in 1988). Add $200 M for new tracks, signals &tc in the tunnels. We're up to just over $1 Billion.
Now, What is the value of 54 city blocks of land (bordered by 21st St W, 6th St E, 9th Ave and 10th Ave) that is mostly made up of railway tracks and parking lots? After excluding Palliser Square & parkade, Gulf Canada Square & parkade, and other developed sites like the Palliser Hotel, you would still have around 50 blocks to sell for $150 M each. Doing the math ...... $7.5 Billion.
OK ... some blocks are worth less than others, so we'll probably net closer to $6.0 B for all the property after the expenses of returning it to 'brownfield'. That's still more than the tunnelling costs. And a nifty profit too.
We haven't touched the land between Crowchild & Bowness. Maybe the CPR would be a good corporate citizen & donate it as parkland.
And the Inglewood land? I dunno. It's a becoming a hip & trendy neighborhood, so what would you do with it?
No doubt someone in the CPR will realise they could make more money leasing the land to developers, or develop it themselves (google "Marathon Realty").