OTTAWA — Transport Canada and Canadian Pacific Kansas City have submitted their final application to the Canadian Transportation Agency related to construction of a proposed bypass around Lac-Megantic, Quebec, the site of a 2013 Montreal, Maine & Atlantic oil train runaway and derailment that killed 47 people.
The application includes technical documents, reports, and monitoring plans, Transport Canada said this week. The CTA is reviewing the application to ensure that it is complete. Once that review is done, the agency will launch a public consultation process for a minimum of 30 days.
The construction of a railway line will be approved if the location of the line is found to be reasonable. In making this decision, two things are considered: The requirements for railway operations and services, along with the the interests of the localities affected by the railway line, which may include local residents and indigenous communities.
The 12.5-kilometer (7.8-mile) bypass project was announced in 2018, with the federal government committing to provide 60% of the necessary funding and the province of Quebec the remaining 40%. But the neighboring communities of Nantes and Frontenac, which include part of the bypass as well as the existing route, have fought the project, citing environmental concerns [see “Community withdraws from talks …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 14, 2024].
The lengthy process of land acquisition has also slowed construction; the project timeline indicates completion of the bypass remains more than five years away.
The disaster forced the MM&A into bankruptcy. Fortress Investment Group bought the regional and renamed it Central Maine & Quebec in 2014. CP reacquired the railroad in 2020, regaining a portion of its historic shortcut to tidewater at Saint John, New Brunswick, via northern Maine.
