The Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) is extending its High Level
Bridge heritage streetcar line north three blocks from its current terminal
near the Grandin light rail station to just south of Jasper Avenue along a
former Canadian Pacific right-of-way. It is part of the $2.5-million Ribbon
of Steel project equally funded by the federal, provincial and city
governments. It will include a parallel bicycle and pedestrian path and
small plazas at three new stations. Harvey Bradley, president of the Radial
Railway Society, told The Edmonton Journal that the new stations will be
more convenient for passengers seeking to ride the only car now operating on
the single-track bridge line, No. 247, which was built in 1921 for the
Japanese city of Hankai and acquired by ERRS in 1990 from Osaka. Bradley
says he expects the extension will help boost the line’s annual ridership of
50,000. The Society is planning to add a passing track just south of the
bridge so that more than one trolley can be operated. ERRS also operates a
heritage line inside Fort Edmonton Park using four restored Canadian
streetcars.
