Alberta’s Climate Change Action Plan is the right vehicle for the times. The Plan sets ambitious objectives and provides initial funding for a necessary third layer of public transit beyond the limits of Alberta’s two big cities. Much of the following comments apply equally to Edmonton but for the purposes of this commentary, we are focusing on Calgary.

During the last two decades, the City of Calgary has developed an attractive and efficient mass transit system which utilizes light rail (the "C-Train") as a back-bone of transportation and runs transit buses in corridors with a low ridership and as a feeder system.

This system is well accepted by all citizens and Calgary Transit gets high marks and serves as a role model if compared with other North American urban transit systems.

Based on a strong economy the City of Calgary and all neighbouring municipalities have faced a significant growth in population. Given the existing positive prognosis of further economic development and given the attractiveness of quality of life in the Calgary area the population will continue to grow.

Despite all efforts of the City of Calgary to allocate sufficient land for further residential development, more and more newcomers to the area are forced to live outside city limits due to high housing costs, or choose a life style outside Calgary’s high-density way of living.

By that, sustainable mobility of people, in particular daily commuting, requires a more holistic approach within the perspectives of a Greater Calgary Area.

Calgary’s bedroom communities, tied already in Calgary Regional Partnership, consist of eighteen communities and one First Nation. Some of these communities like Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks are several of the fastest, double-digit, growing communities in Canada.

Calgary’s main traffic arteries are no longer congested only because of traffic generated by residents within Calgary’s boundaries. Regional commuter traffic between home and office and regional leisure traffic between home and cultural and entertainment offerings of Calgary contribute to a major portion of cars on the roads.

Ironically, the large carbon footprint of Alberta’s oil sands has created a secondary or shadow carbon footprint in Calgary and Edmonton as a result of a fast growing population and its mobility requirements.

Expanding public transit into and from the bedroom communities is the next logical step in developing sustainable mobility.

A successful public transit connection between a satellite town and Calgary downtown has to be

Transit buses, especially a train like operated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, come immediately to mind when outlining a regional transit network. Regular transit buses and also BRT require comparably much less capital investment than any other form of mass transit.

Whereas regular buses also get stuck in rush hour traffic, only BRT offers an attractive advantage in travel time. A BRT success is, however, strongly dependent on the "in-city" road network and its capability of accommo-dating strictly dedicated bus lanes directly into the heart of downtown. The core of Calgary is not well suited for providing space for these dedicated bus lanes.

Transit buses usually have another disadvantage; they appeal to people as a mode of transportation for low-income citizens, not comfortable and, hence, not attractive. Even though this is a wrong perception – if at all, valid for some crowded systems in less developed mega cities – transit buses rank always very low in public opinion.

An extension of Calgary’s C-train into the bedroom communities is not viable and ultimately not an attractive solution. Light rail vehicles are technically capable of running at top speeds of 110 km/h and, thus, of covering the distances, for instance between Okotoks or Airdrie and the city limits of Calgary in a reasonable travel time. But once these trains have to entertain the existing C-train system with frequent stops and many more trains, the travel time advantage diminishes.

In addition, trains coming from outside Calgary will be fully loaded during rush hours thus reducing the already existing shortage of C-train capacity and more and more people will be left behind at the current terminal stations.

A convenient and attractive solution would be the establishment of an express service, i.e., "bedroom community trains", which would not stop at all stations. Unfortunately, with the C-train system at capacity this is only achievable by adding a third or even a fourth track in certain corridors. The right-of-way and the topography does not allow for such a solution in Calgary.

Commuter trains, typically so-called diesel multiple units (DMU) or electrical multiple units (EMU), could provide a certain service into the surroundings of Calgary but they are not a perfect solution for all corridors.

A DMU system requires a relatively low initial investment if tracks of freight railways are used or the right-of-way of an abandoned railway is re-activated. At the same time this advantage in terms of investment limits the operations of a DMU service.

If the DMU is operated on a used freight track it has to comply with all Transport Canada regulations for mixed traffic. All attractive and modern DMU are build in Europe and designed in accordance with European standards, which differ significantly from North American standards. No rolling stock supplier is currently willing to develop a North American DMU because of today’s negligible market size.

Separating freight trains and DMU by a window in time might be acceptable to regulatory authorities. But understanding that freight service is a vital operation and the almost only source of revenues for freight railways, limiting train traffic to certain hours impacts strongly flexibility and capacity of services and contradicts requirements of comfort and convenience.

Both, used and abandoned railway right-of-way alike, have another disadvantage. These railway corridors were designed a century ago with a completely different mindset of developing communities and transportation. These old right-of-way cut usually directly through the center of the municipalities. Today’s urban development takes place outside town centers creating demand for mobility away from the railway corridor. Stations are no longer in walking distance. Therefore, a DMU system on existing railway tracks needs additional measures like feeder buses and park-and-ride facilities.

Pros and cons are the same for an EMU service. Having no combustion engine on the train the EMU is more environmentally friendly than the DMU (but bear in mind that electricity is produced out of coal, oil or gas). On the other hand, an EMU system needs significant investment for traction power supply and catenaries. On top, electrification is only feasible in an abandoned right-of-way because North American freight trains have a height, which will infringe with catenaries.

In a joint public-private effort the Province of Alberta, the City of Calgary, CP Rail and Siemens Canada Ltd. tested a European lightweight DMU dubbed "Disco Train" on a few kilometers of CP tracks south of Anderson in Calgary. Revenue service during five months in 1996 showed an unexpectedly very high ridership confirming that people in bedroom communities accept such a mode of transportation. Demand was so high that this DMU service had a major impact on the final Calgary Transit decision that the southern extension of the C-train became top priority.

Perhaps even more essential for a DMU scenario, Green TRIP could overcome the most important threshold for implementation. The rolling stock industry indicates that they would like to see a minimum order of 50 DMUs, if they have to ‘canadianize’ the technical design of a European DMU, however, none of the potential individual DMU corridors will require more than ten trains.

If the Alberta government under the Green TRIP initiative would guarantee a collective purchase of 50 DMUs or more over a reasonable production/delivery period it would create a critical mass of interest to the industry.

In parallel, the resources of UofC and SAIT (and, of course, also UofA and NAIT) could be used for the development and design of a ‘canadianized’ DMU supporting corresponding efforts of the DMU industry; this could add an exciting new aspect to UofC’s and SAIT’s activities in the railway sector and soften the private sector’s burden -- perhaps the beginning of a Centre of Excellence for Transportation?

Premier Ed Stelmach, on July 8, 2008 in his Carbon Reduction Plan address defined that the aim of Green TRIP is "to generate creativity and innovation, and to support projects that will significantly reduce the number of vehicles on the road … "

The funds invested in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will make the Province of Alberta a world leader offering enormous potential for value-added development thus creating new jobs and revenues for Albertans.

Green TRIP should feature a similar vision of a worldwide Alberta leadership function in public transit.

A certain amount of the anticipated $2 billion investment should be dedicated to support the commercialization and North American market penetration of one of today’s most advanced mass transit systems.

The new urban Maglev system is a downscaled version of the high-speed MagLev version. Keeping all technical and environmental advantages (safe operations, no pollution, light weight vehicles and "filigree" elevated guide way structures, no rail-wheel friction losses, linear motor, low noise levels, high system flexibility, full automation) but limiting the design speed to about 100 km/h, allows for a new approach of MagLev in the mass transit market.

The speed reduction eliminates most of the expensive elements of the high-speed system showing a cost potential of a conventional light rail system once an economy of scale is achieved.

After many years of intensive testing and demo runs on exhibition grounds a short commercial line is currently in revenue operation in the Expo Park of Daejeon, South Korea.

An urban MagLev system in Alberta will fulfill the vision of innovative, creative and sustainable mobility. It will serve citizens and connect bedroom communities. It will like CCS open an enormous potential for value-added development and attract additional high-tech businesses. It will become a showcase contributing to the reputation of the transit systems in Alberta. It will be recognized as a valuable improvement of quality of life.

An urban Maglev system does not need major R&D. The transition from an existing small-scale commercial service to a large-scale service covering longer distances with more trains bears minimum risks.

Some of the preceding studies and parts of the later design and engineering can be shared between industry and the science and technology community like the Van Horne Institute, UofC and SAIT, which would make them an international Center of Competence for Urban MagLev systems.

Connecting Airdrie with downtown Calgary is an example for urban MagLev in the Calgary area.

The visionary alignment starts with three or four stops at strategic locations in Airdrie covering as many potential users as possible. The line would then follow Highway 2 with an elevated structure in the median. One intermediate stop between Airdrie and Calgary with corresponding park-and-ride facilities could serve as a transit hub for the rural population. Close to downtown Calgary the line will leave Highway 2 and will follow one of the most appropriate East-West trails ending with three or four stations in downtown again at strategic locations.

A travel time of about 20 minutes between Airdrie and Calgary is possible subject to final alignment and number of station stops.

Calgary’s +15 pedestrian system is a perfect match with a lightweight elevated MagLev structure. One of the Calgary stops should become a major transit hub linking the MagLev system with C-trains and buses.

An alternate routing of "swinging" the MagLev system along the airport terminals might be advantageous. It will be a slightly more complicated alignment and a marginally longer travel time, but it would connect YYC with downtown Calgary and Airdrie attracting additional ridership outside regular rush hours.

A typical urban MagLev train carries about 300 people at crush load. Operating with 5 minutes headway the system has a capacity of 3,600 passengers per hour in one direction.

Assuming an average occupancy of 1.3 people per automobile, this urban MagLev system would take about 2,700 private cars off the road during every rush hour.

Once the infrastructure of stations and elevated guide way is in place the system capacity can be easily adjusted by adding more trains. The Airdrie-Calgary urban MagLev system could begin its service with a few trains and a moderate headway only. It can grow with the growth of population and demand by adding trains and shortening headways.

Current limits of signaling and control systems allow for a minimum headway of approximately 60 seconds. This would accommodate 18,000 travelers per hour and direction substituting nearly 14,000 cars per hour on Highway 2 and parallel roads.

A simple estimate demonstrates the dramatical impact on the carbon footprint. Running the system at capacity during 260 business days and taking only into account the substitution of 14,000 cars during daily four rush hours, which would have traveled about 30 km between Airdrie and Calgary, the environment balance sheet will show 436,800,000 "green" trip kilometers every year, translating into 200,000 metric tons of CO₂ for heavy-duty SUVs and still 40,000 metric tons of CO₂ for a highly fuel-efficient "clean" compact car every year – a truly significant reduction of CO₂ and other pollutants.

This urban MagLev system will be eligible to benefit from a carbon trade program, which will assist in providing funds for investment and operations.

Urban MagLev will not compete or replace existing transit systems. Urban MagLev will add a third layer of services

The train like BRT service is regarded as precursor service in urban corridors until a certain ridership potential for light rail or urban MagLev is achieved.

Green TRIP opens lots of opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint of transportation. Besides traditional project ideas of fleet extensions, additions to light rail corridors, establishing commuter train services, and acquiring rights-of-way, Green TRIP needs a visionary element, a top of the edge transit technology proving Alberta’s preparedness and willingness for a pro-active climate change action plan.

As with all public programs Green TRIP needs proper planning. The next few months of the Green TRIP initiative should focus on evaluation and assessment of eventual projects, in particular:

1. Arrange for industry consultations and enable talks between all private and public stakeholders including representatives of bedroom communities

2. Investigate potential corridors for a BRT system

3. Update the existing DMU market study and develop a priority plan for commuter trains

4. Consult industry and execute a pre-feasibility study for an urban MagLev system