Detail script for 10 / WHY IS THIS RR UNIQUE IN NA?
Comparison of Rail Relocation Routes
‘View north on Highway 99 alternate route’
The new inland relocation route now supported by all is the route up Highway 99, thereby connecting the rail line most directly from the US border to the east-west line along Colebrook Road; for rationale see card #11. This new inland route will significantly shorten, by 30 minutes, the time and distance that ALL trains will experience, all times of day and night, all year long; this translates into major financial SAVINGS for the railroad and the community over the time frame of the economic analysis.
Typical rail relocations in North America in past years have resulted in rerouting of rail lines out and around built-up urban areas, thereby lengthening time and distance that all trains experience and causing financial losses to be borne by the railroad and/or the communities surrounding. Website examples follow. Note that the best example in Canada is the present rerouting of the rail line in Lac-Megantic, Que. For some great discussion and elaboration on these examples, and others, see Ref #4 pages 11 to 13.
1987 and 2015 ; see RR & X-ing Examples Link re Hamilton, Winnipeg, and White Rock
2007 review of 5 relocation projects across various states; see Texas link here.
2018 see Lac-Magentic link here
This important distinction is most advantageous to our BNSF Rail Relocation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Ultimately, and unless BNSF offers to contribute greatly, we will use the Railway Relocation and Crossing Act; we refer the reader to Ref #1 page 4, and Ref #2 in its entirety, where this key fact is outlined. Specifically, the Act stipulates that the federal government can share in as much as 50% of expenditures [capital] associated with the relocation project, and that further the Act aims to protect rail companies impacted by relocation in that it stipulates that railways should neither gain nor lose from the relocation of their rail lines; most observers might mistakenly assume we will have to pay BNSF to relocate; on the contrary, once the economic analyses associated with the upcoming feasibility study are completed, we will all know how much BNSF will have to contribute to the capital funding of this relocation, since they will have gained significantly in saved time and distance. See card #18 for some rough estimates of capital funding and allocations to various partners.