WATERLOO REGION -- A 26-year dream to bring rail transit back to Waterloo Region has suddenly been put on the fast track.
In a surprise move, and with some dissent, councillors have asked the federal and provincial governments to help build a $256-million streetcar link in Kitchener and Waterloo.
The proposal includes seven train stations for seven modern, electric streetcars, plus a parking garage and convention centre on vacant lands at King and Victoria streets near downtown Kitchener.
The ambitious plan -- crafted in weeks to meet a perceived funding deadline and approved at a meeting last night -- dies if the upper governments decline to pay most of the bill. But councillors figure with luck and hard lobbying, streetcars could start rolling within five years.
"This type of opportunity comes along once in a generation," said Coun. Sean Strickland. "I think it will help us take a quantum leap forward."
The light-rail line, an unrealized part of transit plans since 1976, would link Benton Street in Kitchener to the St. Jacobs market north of Waterloo.
It would pass through the cores of both cities, past the universities of Waterloo and through the proposed Waterloo research park.
Modern streetcars powered by overhead wires would travel on an existing rail line in north Waterloo before switching to tracks built on King Street between the two downtowns. The tracks would go briefly underground while at the Victoria Street station.
Trains would run every 20 minutes, 10 minutes in peak periods. While on the road, streetcars would have the right-of-way over automobiles and through intersections.
Future expansions (costs undetermined) would extend the rail transit line to Preston, downtown Cambridge and, eventually, to Elmira.
Transit planners favour streetcars over buses, saying rail travel is more likely to lure people from their cars.
Several councillors recalled that the region had streetcars decades ago before lines were abandoned for buses.
"It's sort of like back to the future," said chief administrator Gerry Thompson, noting the irony. "A lot of what we're doing here is a re-creation."
Fares have not been revealed, but they would cover about half the system's operating costs, leaving taxpayers with a $3-million annual subsidy.
Councillors contend the rail system would ease pollution and traffic congestion, boost downtown redevelopment, and curb urban sprawl.
The proposal was unveiled quickly yesterday because the region fears other cities are already lobbying for their share of a $2-billion federal fund from which the region hopes to draw.
Competition for federal cash will be fierce. If the region waits longer to get in the lineup it may be left behind, councillors were warned.
"This will be like swimming upstream. We're up against heavy hitters. This isn't going to be easy," Thompson said.
The region expects to put up perhaps $64 million towards the proposal, with the upper governments and private partners contributing $192 million.
But there's more to the proposal than just transit.
The region is also pitching a $35-million convention-exhibition centre that would require an estimated subsidy of $800,000 a year.
The dollars and risk attached to the centre persuaded councillors Jean Haalboom and Jane Mitchell and North Dumfries Mayor Joe Martens to reject the transit proposal.
They worry the region will get sucked into a financial hole (Waterloo's RIM Park $32-million financing blunder was mentioned) on a project better left to the private sector.
But most councillors agreed the convention centre must remain in the proposal to lure federal interest because the federal fund targeted by councillors is slated for projects that "transform" communities and boost the economy.
This means proposals have to be broad and ambitious, not narrow. Ditch the convention centre and the proposal loses some of its appeal to the federal government, Thompson warned.
It's proposed that the Victoria Street station include a relocated Via Rail station and a bus station for local and intercity buses.
Other possible components of the Victoria Street block, not included in dollar estimates, are housing, a hotel, and a pool or recreation centre.
The transit proposal was endorsed last night by Todd Letts, president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, by David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, and by George Bechtel of Transport 2000, a transit advocacy group.
The region hopes to secure a meeting within two months with Deputy Prime Minister John Manley.