Brendan: Commuter rail. Traveling up to 150 kilometres an hour, these mighty trains are responsible for transporting just over 300,000 people in Canadian metropolitan areas everyday.
Brendan: Trains are fuel efficient, reach high speeds and can carry thousands of people on a single trip.
Brendan: The potential is there. And this is why, (sighs) I can't believe I’m going to say this but, (pause) I like trains.
Megan: Building a commuter rail line in the Halifax Regional Municipality is no real news.
Megan: Municipal staff have been writing reports after reports about the implementation of new rail transit in the HRM.
Megan: The findings of these reports have been the same time and time again - it is feasible, but not economically viable.
Megan: Currently in HRM, the Integrated Mobility Plan highlights two potential routes for commuter rail.
Megan: The Regional Council has even assigned a budget for this fiscal year to work on the implementation of a commuter rail project by Halifax Transit.
Megan: ...whatever that means, but at least something is finally going on.
Brendan: The real question is, what are they trying to achieve with commuter rail? What exactly is a commuter rail? Is it worth having one here? Most importantly, how will it benefit ME?
Brendan: Well, it turns out that everyone benefits from commuter rail in different ways and for different reasons.
Brendan: If you’re a transit user or don’t drive a vehicle, you can benefit from a faster ride than conventional transit.
Brendan: If you want to switch from driving to riding, then it will save you money, because transit fares typically cost less than vehicle maintenance. You can also nap while you’re commuting, so that’s a perk.
Brendan: If you still want to drive a car, you can still benefit from lighter traffic, thanks to every car commuter rail takes off the roads at rush hour.
Brendan: The best part about commuter rail is that it follows a dedicated right-of-way.
Brendan: This is especially important to provide fast, frequent and reliable transit service...I wonder where I heard this from?
Megan: A commuter rail typically connects a low-density suburban community to a much denser city centre.
Megan: Commuter rails also typically use existing railways, operate during rush-hour in a peak direction, and have service less frequently.
Megan: Cities utilize these methods to reduce the initial and operating costs.
Brendan: Since HRM isn’t as dense as other Canadian cities that have constant all day light rail, monorail, or heavy rail like subways, using commuter rail, the cheaper method, makes more sense as a potential transit option for the municipality.
Megan: But is that a fair assumption? Let’s see what other cities are doing.
Megan: Other cities in Canada are stepping up their rail game by building more lines of commuter rail.
Megan: Currently, commuter rails are available in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver.
Megan: Both Montreal and Toronto are looking into upgrading their services from commuter rails, which is rush-hour oriented, to Regional Express Rail, which has all-day, frequent service.
Brendan: Now back to the east coast, and also back to reality, because we have only touched on the positives of rail.
Brendan: Commuter rail costs a lot to implement and operate, and the HRM’s population is not as large as other Canadian municipalities.
Brendan: Metrolinx will spend $13.5 billion in Toronto, and CDPQ Infra will spend $6.3 billion in Montreal solely on the implementation of their Regional Express Rail.
Brendan: HRM couldn’t even collect a billion dollars in property tax last year. There's no denying it - rail system cost a lot.
Megan: The Halifax Commuter Rail Feasibility Study (2015) projects a minimum of $36 million dollars of initial capital cost. This is on top of at least $9 million of annual operation costs.
Megan: But to put that into perspective, the annual operating costs and capital budget of Halifax Transit is $132 million.
Megan: Not to mention that they requested an additional $48 million for the 2020-2022 budget for its commuter rail project - which may just be enough to build a basic rail system from Halifax to Windsor Junction.
Brendan: We are in no way suggesting that $36 million is not a lot of money. But we are saying that it is technically possible to spend that much money on a single project.
Megan: In fact, there are cases of transportation projects in HRM that will cost similar to the implementation of commuter rail.
Brendan: You know that annoying interchange on Highway 102 where you are trying to exit on Joseph Howe Drive BUT YOU CAN’T because someone is merging right before?
Brendan: Well, the Province of Nova Scotia is spending $20 million to realign the Highway 102-103 Interchange.
Brendan: In Upper Tantallon, the Province will also spend $140 million to twin Highway 103.
Brendan: Well, that’s great! You know what else you can do with $140 million? BUILD THE (hoooonk) COMMUTER RAIL AND OPERATE IT FOR THE NEXT 11 AND A HALF (honking) YEARS!
Megan: Again, we are not suggesting that these highway projects are unnecessary.
Megan: But it shows that we are okay with spending this much money on highways, just not on commuter rail.
Brendan: We would argue that it's not really about money, it is more about the political will. So what will it be: highways or commuter rails?
Brendan: That’s for you to decide, but personally Megan: WAIT
Brendan: I like trains! Megan: No!
Brendan: for the 2020-2022 budget for its commuter rail project - and that may just be enough to build a basic rail system from Halifax to Windsor Junction.
Megan: Fiscal year. Brendan: Physical year!
Megan: Fiscal. Brendan: ...Fiscal.
Megan: Fiscal. Brendan: ...Fistical (?!)
Megan: It's not fistical, it's not physical, it's fiscal.
Brendan: I. Butchered! That last section.
Byung Jun: TAKE 11!
Megan: We're gonna be out here for 48 hours. Brendan: I KNOW!
Brendan & Megan: Chagachagachaga x 2
Brendan: Wooooooo!
Brendan: Alright. Megan: We could not be co-hosts.