Rural Commuter Rail

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Joseph Potvin

Hello Radster, We're almost neighbours then. I'm about 6 km south of you. Yup, the track is missing from where I look out my window too.

May I ask you about the "done deal" part of your comment?

1. Will the multi-use pathway require rebuilding and ongoing maintenance of all the blocked or collapsed culverts, and for stabilizing the unstable land areas? If so, can you please provide your ballpark estimate of the overall cost of this re-habilitated drainage infrastructure?

2. What will be the source of funds for the "done deal" you speak of, if re-habilitated drainage infrastructure is included?

3. You may or may not see what our investors see in the PPR business concept, and certainly some on this blog consider our concept stranger than a hyperloop. But are you saying that to build a 20 km section of railway to connect a major commercial-residential-recreational project to the regional market is beyond the capacity of Canadian business? Or are you saying it's a pipe-dream to imagine that accountable elected officials and professional staff working in the public interest would ever go along with such a dumb idea?

4. RE: "this has been embraced by most Chelsea residents". Are you sure? Can you please provide a link to a report of a survey, of an election result, of a consultation process, or any other empirical study which demonstrated that the population of the Municipality of Chelsea decided to not keep the railway in addition to getting the pathway it's seeking? Please share the source of your comment that the Rails-TO-Trails design was chosen over a Rails-WITH-Trails design.

5. Just one other thing: Can you please share a copy of any legal document which demonstrates that the Municipality of Chelsea is sole owner of the corridor in question?

***

From the MOOSE Consortium perspective, the only tangible difference in our plans caused by the removal of the track is that our rehabilitaton of the ballast will be more expensive in the Chelsea section, because we won't be able to operate the usual rail-mounted undercutter:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballast_cleaner

Joseph Potvin
Director General | Directeur général
Moose Consortium (Mobility Ottawa-Outaouais: Systems & Enterprises) | www.letsgomoose.com
Consortium Moose (Mobilité Outaouais-Ottawa: Systèmes & Enterprises) | www.onyvamoose.com

I am always the skeptic, but I look at Chelsea politicians who support the permanent removal of the rail line as those who are unable to see beyond the ends of their noses. At least we are seeing some long-term vision with the Moose proposal. There is potential with a rail line to give the Gatineau Valley a badly needed economic shot in the arm.