Rail line bypass plan would make Winnipeg ‘major transportation hub’: Axworthy

After decades of calls to move railway traffic to the outskirts of Winnipeg, a plan that would benefit residents, railways and taxpayers is now on track, says the former Winnipegger leading the way.

A rail line bypass around the city, using Crown-owned land and the Manitoba Hydro corridor, would take 20 years to complete, remove 120 railway crossings that are a safety risk, and free up about 250 acres of Winnipeg land over time for development, Lloyd Axworthy said Tuesday.

Axworthy, a former federal transport minister and Manitoba MP, was tasked by Kinew in October 2024 with leading a two-year rail relocation feasibility study.

Axworthy and Premier Wab Kinew are holding a news conference Wednesday afternoon. The premier is expected to announce a three-month feasibility study that homes in on a location for a bypass around the city for major railways CN Rail, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

“The mandate from the premier was to really focus in on what you might call local neighbourhood community projects that would enable an abandoned rail line to be converted to a green corridor, or to look at a railway yard in the middle of a residential area and see how those things can be managed,” Axworthy said.

An early proposal is a four-kilometre pedestrian and cyclist corridor that would replace a track that’s no longer used between Brooklands and the Polo Park area. There has been talk of a possible commuter corridor between Winnipeg and Gimli.

“Fifty to 60 per cent of the freight that goes into downtown Winnipeg, residential Winnipeg, neither originates in Winnipeg nor is delivering anything to Winnipeg,” Axworthy said.

Trains, which have grown much longer over the years and now haul some 200 rail cars, must travel at slower speeds through the city.

A bypass well outside of Winnipeg would allow them to operate more efficiently and speed up, he said. “It would also bring a lot of money back into the coffers of the city in terms of increased real estate values and development programs.”

Manitoba’s Crown-owned power company also sees the benefit of sharing its transmission corridor with rail lines, Axworthy said.

“Hydro showed to be very interested in the idea — that the combination of a transmission system and a railway system could actually be very self supporting,” he said. “They’re always concerned about encroachment — people start building close to them and safety and security issues become a risk.”

The idea of a bypass to move rail traffic out of Winnipeg is nothing new but until now, the “big hurdle” has been acquiring private land, he said. The willingness to use public land changes that.

Axworthy said the findings of the three-month study will include recommendations, and go back to the community for consultation.

“Here’s an opportunity actually for Winnipeg to take a real jump forward and become a major transportation hub for North America, especially with the north-south axis from Churchill to southern Mexico coming into play,” Axworthy said.

“With those kinds of changes and with the market changing, all the debates about new supply chains, the way railways are becoming more sophisticated — using more AI and things of that kind, Winnipeg has a chance to really not just be a classic transportation hub, but also a place where innovations can be done for electric factory rail cars.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca