It’s a landmark that has divided Winnipeg in both a literal and figurative sense, and now, a group of Winnipeggers is working on bringing the city closer together by trying to relocate the Canadian Pacific rail yard.
They want to move the rail yard from the inner city to outside of the city.
“It’s a scar in our city. It’s a dividing line,” said Point Douglas advocate Sel Burrows.
Burrows is also the co-chair of “Rail Yard Relocation Project.” He wants to see the land transformed into a community hub.
“We desperately need more parkland in the Downtown, inner city area. We need more housing. We need recreation for the inner city kids. We need commercial development, so there are jobs in the inner city,” Burrows said.
Burrows met with Mayor Brian Bowman about the group’s ideas for the first time Thursday.
“We don’t expect people to say, ‘Sure, we’re going to do it!’ right away. This is going to take years,” said Burrows.
He said the project could be phased in anywhere over five to 15 years.
For Bowman, he said Thursday’s meeting was to simply listen to a group of community leaders, including former federal cabinet minister and University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy, on a topic they’re very passionate about.
“Our priorities on infrastructure remain unchanged, and our asks of both the federal and provincial governments remain unchanged,” said Bowman. “Number one priority right now is the accelerated regional roads program.”
Burrows said the group has started reaching out to other levels of government and plans on hosting public meetings.
He said their biggest hurdle right now is trying to raise funds for a feasibility study.
“We believe that with the energy, and if we can find the politicians with the vision to look far enough ahead, these things can be overcome,” said Burrows.
Things like actually moving the rail yard out of the city, which would require a lot of work, collaboration, and money.
On its website, CP said if a community wants to conduct a study into moving rail lines out of their city, it may participate.
“However, relocation of rail lines and yards is a complex and serious issue which would involve CP, local and national customers, regulators, local community organizations and all levels of government. An extensive review would need to take place to determine the impact to customer service and the full cost to all stakeholders, which will be significant.”
Burrows said, “There are a multitude of issues in a project this big that have to be dealt with. None of them are just snap your fingers and they’re fixed.”
The proposed feasibility study would include clear facts on issues, including cost and ground pollution.
In terms of where the CP rail yard could be relocated, Burrows said the group thinks the CentrePort area would make sense, but the location is something that would have to be determined as part of a study.
