High-speed rail way off track

Sitting behind an editor's desk does give one a certain perspective on the world, that in the case of the, 'High-speed rail way off track,' editorial in the Calgary Herald of February 23, is wrong and myopic.

 

Who ever wrote the article dispensed far too quickly the report and study done by the Van Horne Institute on the Edmonton/Calgary high-speed link. Or spends no time driving the current QE 2 with their eyes wide open.

 

The editor looks at one side of the equation, the cost of the Edmonton/Calgary railine. The writer does not look at what it will cost to fix the QU-2, or to upgrade it so that the traffic needed to feed the Shell's Athabasca Oil Sands Project, Syncrude Canada's oilsands expansion, plus the possibility of a new refinery being built.

 

The writer does not look at the idea that using rail to transport large machinery and products to and from the oilsands via rail makes sense when you look at how efficiencies can be attained, that are not available via roads.

 

The writer does not look at the idea the high speed link could be one part of a puzzle to fix the problems of getting to and from the Fort MacMurray for not only the machinery but the human capital that will be needed. The high speed rail link should be the start of the province looking at the use of and improvement of the railway system in a larger picture. The widening of both the QU 2 and highway from Edmonton to Fort MacMurray should be compared to the costs and investment needed to improve the rail links.

 

The writer is right that, 'building a rail won't eliminate the need for roads.' Building a rail could help improve the ability of the province to eliminate the need for upgrades to roads that will not meet the provinces true future needs.

 

We should not look at ideas for infrastructure in such a narrow view as the writer of the editorial wants us to. The editorial does prove the writer's intial premise, that ' Junk in, will equal junk out.' In the case of the editorial it would be half of the truth in produces a poor and ineffective editorial opinion based on no reality.

 

I would suggest the editorial writer needs to get out more, and risk seeing reality without the benefit of the protection of their desk.

 

Thank you

Norman Greenfield

#207, 2425-90th Ave SW.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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