Environmental groups raise concerns about proposed Calgary to Banff passenger train

Conservation advocates and experts are concerned a proposal for a Calgary-to-Banff passenger train is chugging along without addressing some key environmental issues in and around the national park.

Liricon Capital Inc., the lead private-sector proponent, is touting it as a hydrogen-powered transportation solution with lower greenhouse gas emissions than driving.

The company says it has received support from municipalities and the tourism industry, but the Alberta government has told the Globe and Mail it won't invest in the $1.5-billion train as it stands because the financial risks are too high.

Environmental organizations — including Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Yellowstone to Yukon and Bow Valley Naturalists — and some scientists say the proposal also has environmental risks.

"This is one of the most important conservation landscapes in North America," Tony Clevenger, a senior wildlife research scientist with the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, said from Banff, Alta. "It also happens to be one of the busiest in terms of transportation infrastructure.

"The thought of this new rail line, which would be really close to the existing rail line, is really troublesome — not just in the park, but outside the park on provincial lands and Stoney Nakoda (First Nations) as well."

Concerns include wildlife deaths along the rail line — particularly grizzly bears, which have been hit and killed on the existing track — and the fragmentation of wildlife habitat in Alberta's already busy Bow Valley.

Josh Welsh, Alberta program manager for Yellowstone to Yukon, said passenger rail to Banff isn't a bad idea.

"We see it as a means to potentially provide a sustainable transportation vision that could work for wildlife, people and the planet," he said.

But, he added, there's not enough information or collaboration to know whether it works for wildlife.

"The Bow Valley is already being squeezed by development."

A recent report by the Canmore, Alta.-based organization found the mountain town's footprint has grown five times in 50 years. It focused on grizzly bears because "if you take care of grizzlies, you take care of a lot of other things."

Another report by scientists, published this spring in the journal Movement Ecology, found bears have lost about 85 per cent of their original habitat in the Bow Valley.

"So, when you talk about another piece of linear infrastructure, which a train line is … we are talking about cutting up the habitat, disconnecting wildlife," said Welsh.