Montreal Quebec - A former mayor of Cote St. Luc is calling for the removal of the CP rail yard.
 
Robert Libman is leading a group calling for the rail yard to be taken off the island of Montreal.
 
The yard take up about one-third of the city of Cote St. Luc, more than 200 hectares in the geographic centre of the island.
 
"There's almost like this black hole in the heart, right in the middle of Montreal," said Libman.
 
His Coalition for the Relocation of the St-Luc Rail Yard is going to lobby Canadian Pacific and multiple levels of government.
 
The group acknowledges that buying out CP will take a fortune, not to mention the cost of decontamination.
 
However it says the value of the land should be an incentive to sell.
 
"In 2016, just the real estate value alone is reason for CP to consider moving their operations off island," said Libman.
 
Libman said that he has heard countless complaints from people living near the yard from people frustrated by noise, smell, and pollution.
 
He said the yard are also the source of major commuting problems across a broad part of the island.
 
The rail yard, and spurs from the yard, significantly limit the north-south connections in the region.
 
Trying to afford a path over or under the yard has been one of the sticking points in the decades-old proposal to connect the two ends of Cavendish Blvd.
 
Sources say negotiations with CP about crossing the rail spur that roughly parallels Vezina Street have also been one problem delaying the Blue Bonnets housing project.
 
"It creates traffic gridlock, environmental concerns, safety concerns about the rail yard being so close to a residential community," said Libman.
 
He pointed out that the Turcot train yard is no longer used, moved out by the reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange and the displacement of Highway 20.
 
Over the summer the Coalition will be seeking support for a petition to move the rail yard off-island, possibly to Les Cedres.
 
Libman said the McGill School of Urban Planning will also work on designs for what could be done with the land if the rails are removed.
 
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