City to appeal agency's order to replace ripped-up rail

The City of Ottawa is appealing a federal agency's order to restore, sell or scrap a portion of rail line near the Prince of Wales Bridge, and the mayor is asking a federal minister to step in.

As part of light rail construction,the city removed a section of the linenorth of Bayview Station.

The Canadian Transportation Agency's (CTA) mid-February decision would force the city to either put the line up for sale, which could lead to its permanent closure if no buyers come forth,or restore it to a state where it could be re-opened to rail traffic within 12 months.

• City called out for ripping up rail line near Bayview Station
• Transportation agency orders city to restore rail line
• Regulator sparks questions about future of Prince of Wales Bridge

Given until the end of April to respond, city officials had said they would likely appeal the decision, which they saw as the agency going too far.

In a memo Tuesday, Mayor Jim Watson said the city has started filing an appealwiththe Federal Court of Appeal.If approved, that appeal process could take a year or two.

Watsontold reporters later that day he doesn't think the agency's decision is fair.

"We have every intention of using that bridge we believe it's in [our]best interestthat we don't go spend money now when we're not ready for that service to go," he said.

"We want to get service to Kanata as Phase 3A[of the light rail network], as I call it, then Phase 3Bwould be to Gatineau."

Request to cabinet

Watson also said he'swritten to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau to request a review under Section 40 of theCanada Transportation Act,which gives the federal cabinet the power to change or throw out an agency ruling.

"You can certainly appreciate the City's surprise and disappointment in being asked to make this unfortunate 'either or' determination at this point in time," Watson wrote in the letter, which was attached to Tuesday's memo.

"Particularly, it appears that the CTA has rendered its decision without taking into account the ongoing discussions between the cities of Gatineau and Ottawa, as well as with local Members of Parliament, with respect to the future potential use of the [bridge] in connecting our two transit systems."

Watson wrote it would taketwo to three years to get the bridge ready, rather than the 12 months imposed by the agency, and he said he doesn'tbelieve areany viable groups with enough money to run rail over the bridge.

A group called Moose Consortium Inc. has submitted plans for a rail line over the bridge that would go around BayviewStation and service outlying communities such as Smiths Falls, Casselman, Arnprior, Montebello and Wakefield.

That groupreported the rail line's removal in 2016 to the CTA,and claims itcan pay the $50 million itestimates it will take to fix the bridge.