Preliminary work to move rail crossings off Regina’s Ring Road still on track

A proposal that would eliminate the unpopular railway crossings on Ring Road in northeast Regina is still winding its way through City Hall.

The issue most recently surfaced in March, during discussions on the central library renewal. Administration provided a list of capital projects not in the official debt plan, including the Ring Road railroad relocation.

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“A feasibility study along with preliminary design work has been completed,” administration said. “The relocation project has not been approved by council.”

Included was an estimated cost of between $150 million and $300 million.

Geoff Brown, manager of the city’s corporate asset management branch, explained that a consultant was chosen in 2022 to conduct the preliminary design, and there is still a little work that remains.

“Even though the work on preliminary design, I would say, is substantially complete, there is still some information we’re still waiting to pull together,” Brown said, “and working collaboratively with the two railways to then bring something forward to council.”

Work underway since 2018

Brown recalled the long history of the project, beginning with a motion from City Council in 2018 and producing a report the following year.

He said a feasibility study explored overpass and underpass structures, but ultimately recommended relocation of the CP (now CPKC) and CN rail lines that cross Ring Road, with separate at-grade crossings near Winnipeg Street.

The same consultant that did the study has been working on preliminary design for the past four years.

“It doesn’t get us to a point of moving forward,” Brown said, “but it actually just helps all three parties get to the point of at least making a decision. Do we want to continue down this path, or do we not want to? So that really is going to be the outcome of this work.”

He said the question of the railways’ co-operation is a complex one.

“It’s going to require changes to operations for the railways themselves. It would require a long time period to actually get it done,” Brown said.

“I think when we get all the information together that we need to put before council, that will start to get us to that next step in terms of ‘Where do we go from here, and when could that be?’”

The cost estimate in the March report was a range that would depend on possible funding partnerships, he said, adding that it would become a question of whether or not to take on debt.

Brown wouldn’t speculate on a date, but said a report will eventually come before a city committee.

“It’s kind of been slowly progressing in the background,” he said.

“When we have all the information that we need to bring it forward, that’s when it’ll come forward in a report in terms of what it might look like, what it might cost, what it might take to get it done.”

And, he cautioned, even if the relocation gets the green light, there would still be years of work required to make it a reality.