Cochrane Alberta - Representatives from municipalities along the Bow Valley corridor are expected to meet early next year as part of a dialogue on the viability of rail-based passenger transportation.
 
"We have called a meeting of the MOU team that we've established and that is going to be early in January to discuss the presentation that was the proposal made to the province," said mayor Jeff Genung in the brief councillor's report/mayor's report section of the 13 Dec 2021 council meeting.
 
"I'll be happy to give an update in January."
 
The MOU team refers to a Memorandum of Understanding between the provincial and federal government and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to use as a baseline for discussions on mass regional transit rail or otherwise.
 
It's been endorsed by various municipalities along the route, which would run from the city out to Banff and include a stop in Cochrane.
 
"I was at an event in Canmore two weeks ago where I had the opportunity to speak with the new mayor of Canmore, and of course I bugged him about the transit proposal," councillor Morgan Nagel said at the same meeting.
 
"I'm not sure if everybody's aware but Canmore's historically been the one community that doesn't support the whole thing. He assured me that him and Canmore council are open to the proposal, and funnily enough, he said our mayor had already been bugging him as well."
 
"Thank you, I spoke with him as soon as he was elected about that," Genung replied.
 
The next day, Canmore's council approved $100,000 for a feasibility study exploring locations for a potential station and other impacts of a passenger rail project on the community.
 
A year ago municipalities in the MOU said a rail-based option wasn't anywhere close to being financially viable.
 
The price of the project is currently $1.5 billion, but significant private investment has been a catalyst for ongoing conversations on funding with the provincial and federal governments.
 
Patrick Gibson.