Lac-Mégantic rail bypass approved by federal transportation agency

TThe Canadian Transportation Agency has approved a Lac-Mégantic rail bypass, a project the Quebec town has been promised since 2018.

TThe Canadian Transportation Agency has approved a Lac-Mégantic rail bypass, a project the Quebec town has been promised since 2018. The agency is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal that regulates the federal transportation system. It is separate from Transport Canada, the department funding the bypass, and rules independently on applications under the Canada Transportation Act.

The decision, released Thursday, authorizes Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPRC) — which operates as CPKC — to build about 12.5 kilometres of new track on behalf of its subsidiary, Central Maine and Quebec Railway Canada Inc. (CMQR). The bypass will divert trains away from the downtown area, where a runaway oil train derailed and exploded on July 6, 2013, killing 47 people. “In reaching its decision, the Agency considered the location of the proposed bypass, the operational and service needs of the CPRC, and the interests and concerns raised by local and Indigenous communities.

The Agency concluded that the bypass location is suitable and that the project will continue to serve the regional and national economies,” the agency said in a statement. More to come.