24 May 2007
Railway is on the Right Track
Montreal Quebec - Win-win situations are all
too rare in life, so it makes sense to grab one when it appears. And a charming one has appeared this week in Les Cedres, off to the
west of Montreal.
There, it turns out, the Canadian Pacific Railway proposes to build a new "intermodal terminal" - the impressive title for
what amounts to an unsightly traffic obstacle.
When freight trains haul big cargo containers, there has to be a place where the containers are taken off the trains and loaded onto
transport trucks to be driven away to their final destinations.
That such a facility should be near a highway makes sense; that it should be in the middle of a traffic-choked suburb and
near a residential area makes none.
So everyone will win if the CPR gets the regulatory approval needed to switch sites, from the Lachine location, which the railway finds
too small, to a new one at Les Cedres, which will be outside the built-up urban area and near a major highway junction.
People living near the current yard will be spared an irritating eyesore; the CPR and its customers and their truckers will get a more
efficient site; everyone who uses Highway 20 from the West Island will find fewer trucks on the highway; and fewer freight trains in
the West Island could lead to more commuter-train service on that underserved route.
As for the new site, it's on disused land and farmland, which might make some self-professed environmentalists groan. But
the gains from this proposed move far outweigh the costs. The Quebec government should approve this idea without
delay.
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