Jasper officials still hoping for help from CN

The lines of communication are open between Jasper and CN Rail, after the town requested assistance to construct a pedestrian underpass beneath the railway.

Over the holidays, Mayor Richard Ireland, municipal manager George Krefting, director of Environmental Services Ken Quackenbush, and Jim Vena, senior vice-president Western Region for CN, met to discuss the proposed Hazel Avenue underpass.

Although CN previously denied assistance to the municipality with the cost of the project, the meeting offers encouragement. According to Ireland, the group “went through sort of the details of the proposed project, just to let him (Vena) know what we were hoping to get done.”  

Even though CN hasn’t offered anything definitive as of yet, Quackenbush thinks it’s a “good thing” that they’re now talking.  

The cost of the project is estimated at $3.4 million, derived from the capital budget and according to Ireland, “it won’t make a difference to the operational budget.”  That means no tax dollars will go into the project, he said.  

Kevin Franchuk, media relations representative for CN, was tight-lipped about the meeting.  “It was another positive discussion with the town about issues of mutual concern, and I really have nothing more to say at this point,” Franchuk said.

Even if CN is loathe to giving direct financial assistance, there are other ways it can help reduce construction costs.  “If we’re going to build this thing, there’s a couple of ways to do it and one of those ways would be a whole lot less expensive for us and they might be able to provide some of their own equipment that would make the job easier,” said Ireland. 

CN initially refused to block the tracks for the time necessary to install a temporary bridge to build an underpass, which is why a tunneling method was proposed, said Quackenbush.  Now, however, CN seems to be more flexible in its approach.  

“Jim Vena was saying that maybe we could coordinate this work with some other work thats going on on bridges... or infrastructure they have, that would require a longer block and we could make this work so the open trench method would be a possibility,” said Quackenbush.  

The tunnel method is likely the more expensive option.  “We’re assuming that open trench is cheaper,” said Quackenbush.  

“The work is ongoing, there’s still discussion,” said Ireland, adding Vena indicated CN would respond with a formal position sometime at the end of January.