CALGARY — The company leading the effort to develop rail passenger service between Calgary and Banff National Park says it needs support from Parks Canada to ensure the project can succeed without annual payments from the province of Alberta.
The CBC reports that Liricon Capital Inc., which owns a Banff ski resort and has a long-term lease on Banff’s railroad station, says it needs policies to encourage transit use by park visitors — “carrots and sticks,” in the words of Liricon managing partner Jan Waterous. Those could take the form of higher park entry fees for private vehicles and better shuttle bus service between park attractions.
Liricon submitted a proposal for the $1.5 billion Calgary-Banff passenger service late last year and asked the Alberta government to provide up to $30 million annually to help support the project [see “Calgary-Banff rail proposal sees price rise …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 9, 2021]. But Waterous said a new ridership study suggests such payments might not be necessary, projecting the rail line could carry up to 11 million passengers per year by 2035.
The new ridership figures — five times higher than previous estimates — include discussions with tour operators to offer package deals for rai travelers and the potential integration with airline schedules from the Calgary airport. However, they also are based on the assumption Parks Canada will make policy changes that create incentives for visitors to use the rail line.
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