Existing Calgary infrastructure could cut costs for passenger rail plan: advocate
Posted Sep 17, 2026 9:29 am.
More than 30 years has gone by since Calgarians and tourists could hop on a passenger train heading through the city’s downtown core.
But with the province working towards a robust train network, rail advocates are saying existing infrastructure should be used to help keep costs down.
The province is in the midst of developing it’s master rail plan, featuring a grand central station near the future Scotia Place building.
The decades-long project has an estimated cost of $60 billion.
But Terence Johnson, former president of Transport Action Canada says the focus for such a project downtown should be on utilizing existing rail lines.
“A lot of the infrastructure that was there in 1990 when passenger rail was taken away from Calgary. It is still there in some form,” Johnson says.
He points to an existing station underneath the Calgary Tower, which once welcomed passengers for decades, and says it could cut down on costs and bring people right to the heart of the city. Johnson says it could use the outside tracks, which are currently used by CP Rail to stage freight.
“We would like this asset to be available for the passenger. What are we gonna do to improve the fluidity of freight as well? We can create a win-win here. You can create a big win for CP for a lot less money than it’s gonna cost you to build a whole new station.”
Johnson adds there are barriers when using existing freight lines for passenger rail, in the sense that passenger rail isn’t as much of a money-maker when compared to freight, especially during a time of economic growth.
He poses potential for incentives offered by the government to make a deal more appealing, and says it would result in lower infrastructure costs and more economic growth.
