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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

City explores light-rail options

Ultra-lightweight aluminum tram above street level is one possibility

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 01/13/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

There might still be some life in former mayor Steve Juba's dream of a monorail for Winnipeg -- or at least a stripped-down, high-tech version.

City officials are looking for ways to follow up Winnipeg's busway plan with light rail or some other form of fixed rapid transit, such as ultra-lightweight aluminum trams suspended above street level.

Mayor Sam Katz has asked senior members of the civil service to explore the feasibility of leapfrogging over the city's planned bus corridor by either converting it to a different form of people-moving technology or augmenting it with another mode of rapid transit, several sources confirmed.

In September, the city and province announced a $327-million plan to connect downtown and the University of Manitoba with a 9.6-kilometre bus corridor. Work is supposed to begin this summer on the $138-million first phase of the project, a 3.6-kilometre link between Queen Elizabeth Way and Jubilee Avenue.

When the project was unveiled, the word "bus" did not appear anywhere in the official announcement. Katz, who has favoured light-rail transit over busways since he was first elected in 2004, made it clear he viewed a bus corridor as the first step toward another form of rapid transit.

"Light rail is just around the corner," Katz told reporters when the busway was announced, prompting questions about the specific timeline for rail-based rapid transit.

In 2005, the Katz-commissioned rapid transit task force concluded it would cost Winnipeg up to eight times more money to build a light-rail track and purchase train cars as it would to build a bus corridor.

But the city is exploring the idea of using alternative technologies that would require less money to put in place than it takes to build conventional light rail, which is expensive because of the high cost of steel and concrete.

One of the technologies that has caught the city's eye is a form of ultra-lightweight aluminum tram that could run above street level. The tracks could be anchored without the need to pour as much concrete as it would take to create a conventional monorail.

The fact Winnipeg is still a few years away from securing the financing for Phase 2 of the southwest rapid-transit corridor -- a six-kilometre stretch from Jubilee Avenue to Bison Drive -- has presented city staff with a rare opportunity to think big and explore all possible forms of rapid transit, the sources said.

Winnipeg is already planning to borrow money to pay for its share of the busway's first phase. The $138-million price tag will be shared by the city, province and Ottawa. The city and province will each spend $55 million on Phase 1, while Ottawa has committed $28 million.

Right-of-way negotiations with CN Rail could reduce Phase 2's projected cost of $189 million, Katz said in September.

But future growth alongside the rapid-transit corridor could help pay for a portion of the project, in that property taxes from new residential and commercial developments at busway or rail stations could be dedicated to loan repayments, the mayor has said.

Light rail would do a better job of generating new revenues for the city than busways, said St. Norbert Coun. Justin Swandel, city council's finance chairman. The fixed nature of rail stations creates genuine new growth, while busways just encourage existing developments to relocate, he said recently.

If a rapid-transit technology that does not involve buses proves feasible, the city has an opportunity to partly wean itself off diesel fuel, said Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, the former chairman of the rapid transit task force.

"I've always thought we could use our electricity a lot more effectively, especially because we're a hydro province," he said on Monday.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 13, 2009 B1

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