Saskatoon Saskatchewan - Saskatoon's newest city councillor says he does not want to give up on the dream of relocating a major railway line, a feat that has some precedent in the city's history.
 
Coun. David Kirton is calling for a "high-level" meeting with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) executives and directors with the aim of negotiating the removal of its main line.
 
Speaking to council's transportation committee on Monday, Kirton referred to the "legendary meeting" between former mayor Sidney L. Buckwold and Canadian National Railway Co. (CN).
 
Buckwold is understood to be the primary architect of a deal that resulted in CN moving its line and yards out of downtown to their current location south of Saskatoon in the mid-1960s.
 
"If we haven't really had those high-level face-to-face meetings involving our mayor, and maybe city council, and the president of the board of CP, we should at least attempt to have that," Kirton said.
 
Mayor Charlie Clark told the meeting he has met with CP vice presidents, but noted he would be in favour of "continuing that engagement" with the railway if council wills it.
 
As it currently stands after six years of exploring solutions to delays and congestion caused by trains rumbling through the city, Saskatoon appears headed toward a compromise that does not involve the relocation of CP's line.
 
Late last year, CP and CN rejected as unworkable an almost $600 million proposal that they share the latter's corridor south of the city, an idea that would have included building new tracks and a new river crossing.
 
HDR Corp., the consultant hired to study the issue, also proposed a cheaper option, spending a total of $374 million to build nine overpasses and underpasses.
 
It deemed both choices financially unviable.
 
Earlier this month, city hall proposed spending $93.3 million to construct three of those overpasses, at Preston Avenue, Marquis Drive, and 11th Street West, at some point in the future.
 
The Marquis Drive and 11th Street crossings would go over a CN line, which the committee heard has fewer and shorter trains than CP's main line.
 
The transportation committee heard on Monday that no work is being done on the other six, which have been deemed not worth developing based on the effects on people living and working nearby.
 
The overpasses are headed for a list with more than $1 billion worth of other transportation-related infrastructure projects that city council could choose to fund during future budget deliberations.
 
The issue would have ended Monday afternoon had Coun. Randy Donauer not proposed forwarding it to city council, where it is expected to be discussed again later this month.
 
Kirton went on to suggest the fact that the City of Saskatoon does not have access to the railways' bridge safety reports is "concerning" and more co-operation and transparency are needed.
 
"Let's just worry (about) and work with CP, and see if we can't start moving ahead somehow."
 
CP declined to comment.
 
Alex MacPherson.