Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolven
I mean... the amount of profit they would make from the land sale would likely be much larger than the cost to buy new land outside of the city and lay down new tracks.
Otherwise, it would be interesting to see how expropriation would work in that circumstance. As a corporation, they can try to fight it but if the city deems it is necessary for the development of downtown to take the land (and maybe reference the safety aspect to not have potentially explosive trains moving through the core of the city after Lac-Mégantic blew up) then the question would just come down to compensation.
Early in the conversation they could probably try and get fair market value for the land but I think when you get further down the process the valuation decreases in a way that the landowner doesn't tend to be happy with. I vaguely remember stories about that from when the blue line was being built.
If the city bought and developed the land (specifically the ogden train yards) they could potentially build enough housing and retail to sell and cover a big chunk of the costs.
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I'm pretty sure the city does not have the power to do that (expropriation) with CP land. We are basically at their mercy.