By Shaun Penner

City to Mountains

Province assessing viability of Calgary-Banff passenger rail service

Jun 10, 2020 | 10:13 AM

The Alberta government is looking into the feasibility of creating a passenger train to travel between The City of Calgary and Banff National Park.

The province entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Canada Infrastructure Bank recently to assess the viability of a rail service from Alberta’s largest city to Banff.

“I have been a huge advocate for this project within our government since being elected last spring,” said Banff-Kananaskis MLA Miranda Rosin. “The potential for a beautiful passenger rail service running through the Rocky Mountains poses a tremendous opportunity to attract international visitors and grow our tourism economy here in Alberta and is an opportunity I am extremely excited about.”

The government says the rail service would run between the Calgary International Airport and Banff, with potential stops along the way. They add that it would mitigate some of the growing traffic congestion in the park, which sees about 23,000 vehicles go through its gates each day. On average, Banff National Park sees approximately 4 million visitors per year and nearly 37 million person-visits per year.

With those totals drastically reduced due to COVID-19, Rosin feels this project can help the economy in Banff bounce back quicker.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

“At a time in our history when many tourism economies have been effectively devastated by COVID-19 travel restrictions, I believe there is no better time to consider this strategic investment in our tourism industry and give hope to our industry operators than right now.”

The feasibility study will be paid for by the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which uses federal funding to attract private investment into revenue-generating projects that are in the public interest.