Flight Dreams or Why the Edmonton International Airport Will (probably) Never Have Edmonton Transit Service

I got an email from the campaign of an Edmonton City Council Candidate in response to a blog post made previously asking what my opinion is on Transit Service to the Airport. In my usual fashion I decided to make it more complex than necessary; enter this blog post on Why the International Will (probably) Never Have Edmonton Transit Service.

I don't believe we will ever have transit to the EIA due mostly to the following factors:

1. Cost

Underground LRT : $130 million to $160 million per kilometre, at grade: $30 million to $50 million per kilometre (This was an estimate based on Toronto costs)

from: http://lrt.daxack.ca/LRTvsHRT/CostCompare.html

Track at $50 million average per kilometre** = $2.65 billion
**NOTE: excludes train costs, land purchase costs, other construction elements such as road interchanges, bus loops, major bridge and tunnel structures, etc.

from: http://www.connect2edmonton.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=11459

"The North LRT (NLRT) to NAIT is a 3.1 km extension from Churchill LRT Station in downtown Edmonton northwest to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)", "Design and construction of the NLRT to NAIT is anticipated to cost $725 million"

from: http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/North_LRT_Fact_Sheet_June2010.pdf

Subtracting the cost of trains from the City of Edmonton estimate (about $3.6m per train car, based on this: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Siemens+Awarded+Contract+for+33+Light+Rail+Vehicles+Worth+$120...-a0126327355)

makes the track cost ~$222,000,000 per track kilometre.

Using those estimates, to build out Light Rail Transit to the Edmonton International Airport from the Century Park LRT station (19.3km straight shot) carries an estimated cost of $579,000,000 to $4,289,580,645, not including cars and costs to acquire land or right-of-way. Keep in mind that the upper estimate is based on ACTUAL numbers from the City of Edmonton (even I think $725,000,000 for the NAIT extension is asinine), and the assumed $500,000,000 revenue from redeveloping the City Centre Airport won't even cover the low end estimate. That's some heavy-duty hope on getting other financing.

2a. Taxi Competition - Edmonton Regional Airports Authority bids out the carrying rights to EIA, currently Airport Taxi (which splintered off from Yellow Cab) holds them, where Yellow Cab, now the Edmonton Taxi Service Group, formerly held them. Edmonton Taxi Service Group also provides the SkyShuttle and Prestige Limousine Service to the EIA. In the past they have been more than willing to to withhold service in pursuit of their interests and legal action from them wouldn't be out of the question, either.

2b. Greyhound (and other private carrier) Competition - Greyhound and other private carriers will fight tooth and nail to prevent ETS service as well, (as they have done this summer) and being that the EIA is not actually within the City Limits Edmonton City Council (and ETS) have no jurisdiction to determine carrying rights for the EIA.

3. Lack Of Gumption from City Council - In July 2010 Edmonton City Council voted to NOT support ETS service to the EIA. Enough said.

All that considered I can't reasonably see the EIA getting ETS service anytime soon.

As we approach (or endure) peak oil and increasing environmental pressure to reduce oil consumption, having a central airport in Edmonton would be a great asset (from a convenience and environmental standpoint) instead of using the Leduc airport for all air travel from Alberta's Capital.

*ADDENDUM*

A couple of people expressed concerns with the costing I used for EIA LRT. I did base the numbers on estimates provided for Canadian and local (including the NAIT LRT extension). A little more research reveals:

"A survey of North American light rail projects shows that costs of most LRT systems range from $15 million per mile to over $100 million per mile." Wikipedia (don't forget the referenced links there). That adds up to about $24,000,000 per km. So the new low estimate looks like about $496,000,000. I could not find any numbers on exurban LRT because it doesn't seem to exist, in fact it may not even be feasible based on infrastructure needs and other considerations, at least from what I read.