Fougere vows to remove railway crossings on Ring Road if re-elected

Regina mayoral candidate Michael Fougere pledged to remove some railway crossings in the city if he’s re-elected.

Fougere made the announcement on Wednesday that if he is re-elected in the Nov. 9 municipal election, he will remove the two sets of railway crossings on Ring Road near Winnipeg Street.

“We have 63,000 people a day who travel the Ring Road and they are frustrated and sometimes angry about the delays (caused by trains crossing the road),” Fougere said during a media conference near Winnipeg Street.

“These trains tend to be there at the most inconvenient times, when you’re going to work or coming home from work. This will save people time in that regard.”

The city administration has been examining the matter for many years and now, city council and CN Rail and CP Rail are on board.

The project would cost somewhere between $70 million and $100 million, depending on the extent of the preliminary design phase.

“It will depend on what the design comes in at. There is a lot of leeway in those numbers,” Fougere said. “We will be looking at Transport Canada for funding, the federal government for funding along with the province and city to move ahead with moving these lines away from downtown.”

Fougere expects the design work to be done by sometime next year, with the construction phase starting not long after.

“I share the frustrations and I understand them. People are sometimes spending up to 15 minutes at a time waiting for the train,” Fougere said. “I’m committed to speeding this project up and getting it done.”