Quote:
Originally Posted by Redliner
You think things are ugly between the city and the Flames? The argument over who would pay for relocating rail lines would make the arena funding debate look like a spitball fight.... and the cost of building or changing rail infrastructure is staggering.
While I agree that the railway does seem to act like a barrier between DT and the beltline or Vic Park, that is CP's transcontinental main line and those tracks aren't going anywhere. For the money it would take to put them in a tunnel/trench or elevate them we could probably build 3 new arenas.
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Yes, the tracks aren’t going anywhere. What will happen is another underpass at 6th Street, similar to the one at 4th Street. Also development beside the tracks could have +15 type connections.
To move the tracks would either require building completely new CP infrastructure in a new place bypassing the city - all the CP yards etc included, or raising/lowering the line in place (which would have to be done in a way that allows the current line to remain open while the work is done). This type of work is insanely expensive, because there is an insane amount of temporary work that must be done. Raising would probably be easier and cheaper than lowering, but does anyone want to pay a billion dollars to have a raised heavy rail line through the centre city, and have 10 years of disruption?
Lowering would be great for the city, but this would be insanely expensive and disruptive. It would be have to be done Boston big dig style.