Train envy
How Calgary built more light rail than Edmonton.
We were the first to build rail transit, yet somehow our southern neighbours now have more lines, more trains and more riders. What happened?
There was joy in Edmonton this month when the province gave the financial commitments needed to finally roll ahead with southeast LRT construction,
But even when the route to Mill Woods starts service in 2020, Western Canada’s first rapid transit system will still be only two-thirds as long as Calgary’s C-Train network.
Tracks stretch into all four corners of the southern city, while Edmonton is served by a rough diagonal from southwest to northeast.
Former councillor Ron Hayter described the line as a “bobtail” a decade ago when the University of Alberta marked the southern terminus.
Calgary has spent about $500 million more than Edmonton laying track, building stations and buying trains, even taking the NAIT extension opening this year into account.
It also focused on cheaper above-ground alignments, getting more distance per dollar than Edmonton’s underground route to the University of Alberta from Churchill, local historian Colin Hatcher said.
“Basically, they built on the surface in Calgary, so the money they had stretched further,” said Hatcher, who has written histories of rail transit in both cities.
“Edmonton grew in very small stages, while Calgary, because it was on the surface, grew in much larger stages.”
It isn’t clear which was the better strategy, he said.
Calgary will have to dig a route under 8th Avenue to relieve downtown congestion — all trains now go along 7th Avenue — but that isn’t expected to happen for 20 or 30 years.
While Edmonton dealt with this expense and disruption in the 1980s, its LRT also doesn’t reach as many passengers, Hatcher said.
“It serves a lot … the hockey rink and the football field and the university. I think it was well built and well thought out in that way,” he said.
“But it only comes through on one axis, whereas Calgary is on two … That would be a reason for the difference in ridership.”