Wilnnipeg, MB ― Rail Study to Include Streetcars

Rail Transit Online, June 2010

A Winnipeg City Council-approved rail feasibility study will include both LRT and a streetcar that can operate in mixed street traffic and on private right-of-way at up to 50 mph (80 kph). The announcement that lower-cost streetcars would be considered was made on June 4 by Mayor Sam Katz, a major rail booster, and Winnipeg public works director Brad Sacher. "We're looking at LRT-lice, which is a wonderful, futuristic-looking train," Katz told the Winnipeg Free Press.

The C$100,000 study will be conducted by Dillon Consulting and HDR Inc., which completed separate rail vs. bus analyses in 2008 and 2009 and has already told city officials that a streetcar could be built for C$80 million per mile ($50 million per km), about 32 percent more than bus rapid transit. "The actual benefits of both are positive, there's no two ways about it." Sacher told the Free Press. "At the end of the day, we have to decide what we're looking for."

One short segment of BRT is already under construction in Winnipeg but Katz wants to stop future extensions until the rail study is completed and evaluated by the city. The original streetcar system was scrapped 55 years ago and the electric trolley bus network was converted to diesel in the 1960s.