[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by ACmodels

Coun. Wilkinson's call for Kanata commuter rail 'reckless' : Hubley

BY JON WILLING, OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 02:43 PM EDT | UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 03:20 PM EDT

Coun. Marianne Wilkinson’s theory of using existing train tracks for a Kanata commuter line has a suburban colleague calling the idea “reckless.”

“I’m not impressed,” Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley said Friday.

“We have a motion that she voted for, as did the entire council, that we’re going to study the LRT to Kanata and try to expedite it.”

Wilkinson, who represents Kanata North, said she’s simply giving more thought to a plan from when Larry O’Brien was mayor to provide rail service to the west.

It’s also an idea that resurfaced last year when mayoral candidate Mike Maguire was seeking office.

The election was partly based on Maguire’s diesel train blueprint versus Mayor Jim Watson’s $3-billion Stage 2 LRT plan.

Wilkinson said a diesel train commuter service on CN tracks could complement LRT.

“It’s not talking away from light rail. Light rail is going to a different location,” Wilkinson said.

The first phase of LRT opening in 2018 will run between Tunney’s Pasture and Blair station.

The city wants extensions to Bayview Shopping Centre, Place d’Orléans and Algonquin College, plus a Trillium Line diesel train extension to Riverside South, by 2023.

Rail service to Kanata isn’t in the city’s plans before 2031.

Hubley is particularly peeved because he won council’s blessing over the summer to have staff study ways to bring LRT to Kanata as soon as possible.

He accused Wilkinson of “confusing the issue.”

“She didn’t talk about diesel trains in June. She voted for the LRT,” Hubley said.

“What she is doing is reckless and is going to cause problems for the residents of Kanata.”

But Wilkinson said she wants the city to protect the CN line that connects Arnprior with the Trillium Line tracks in Ottawa. It’s a good time to consider it since the city is going through an official plan amendment to establish setbacks along future rail corridors, she said. A report is scheduled to go to council in November.

According to Wilkinson, only a polymer manufacturer in Arnprior uses the CN tracks one day a week. Adding commuter trains during peak periods would just be a scheduling exercise, she said.

However, the biggest hurdle might be the level rail crossings through Kanata before a train goes east through the greenbelt.

Wilkinson concedes it’s just an idea for now. She hasn’t discussed it with the mayor.

But she knows the daily commute from the west is at a snail’s pace and Kanata needs more public transit infrastructure.

“The traffic on the Queensway right now is unreal,” she said.

Twitter: @JonathanWilling

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/09/27/coun-wilkinsons-call-for-kanata-commuter-rail-reckless--hubley

Wilkinson is on the right track; no pun intended. This would cost less as the right of way exists, the track exists, the track is currently in service and it would provide options and could connect with the proposed Stage 2 expansions while improving transit to a wider part if the city. All it needs is some rehabilitation and signalling since the Bombardier DMU's are still in storage at Walkley yard.
I wouldn't trust the staff at city hall to honestly evaluate this option in their study. This study will come up with forgone conclusions just as it did to rule out the LRT option along Carling. They will come up with every excuse in the book not to give this option a fair hearing.