A Calgary city councillor says it’s time to get moving on developing a spur line of the LRT to the airport.
George Chahal said Thursday he wants to see an extension of the so-called blue line, which would include one more CTrain station along the west-east route and a spur line directly to YYC Calgary International Airport.
“Every major global city has access from the airport to its core and this is the quickest and best way to do it and best bang for our buck,” he said.
The ward 5 councillor said he’s been working with administration and Calgary Transit to determine what challenges would have to be overcome to extend the line to the airport.
He said he doesn’t know what the exact cost of a spur line would be, but said it would be a lot less expensive than further extensions of the Green Line.
“I don’t think it’s pitting Calgarians against other Calgarians,” he said. “I think it’s getting Calgarians mobile and if we can get more Calgarians mobile using public transit – with less money – why wouldn’t we do that?”
Chahal said northeast Calgary has been chronically underfunded when it comes to infrastructure in the past several years.
LISTEN: George Chahal tells Rob Breakenridge why he is calling for an expansion of the blue line LRT
He added funding could come from the federal government, should Calgary go forward with an Olympic bid for 2026, but doesn’t want the project tied solely to a possible bid.
Chahal has support from fellow rookie member of council, Jeromy Farkas.
“It’s our gateway to the world, and what we’re seeing is the tremendous amount of investment that’s happening around the airport,” Farkas said. “It’s not just travel and destinations; it’s also employment, it’s a logistics hub, it’s the first very real step in making sure we’re serious about economic diversification.”
Last year, Route Ahead, the city’s 30-year strategic transit plan included rail service to the airport as one of three projects for planning and pre-design work.
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