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'Little Ralphie's Train' turns 25
City's C-Train has continent's highest ridership
Photograph by : Mikael Kjellstrom, Calgary Herald
Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald
Published: Monday, May 22, 2006
Twenty five years ago this week, Calgary rolled the dice on a "hopped-up streetcar" system made up of a single, 12.9-kilometre stretch of track, blasted by critics as too big for a city so small.
Today, the city's C-Train has the highest ridership of any LRT system in North America, carrying 230,000 riders each weekday. And it seems the biggest concern isn't filling the cars, but trying to find a seat during rush hour.
"Little Ralphie's Train" -- as transit employees dubbed it during Premier Ralph Klein's tenure as mayor -- celebrates its silver anniversary on Thursday having carried a mind-boggling 800 million riders.
And for old-timers such as George Dorn, the service's most senior operator and the last remaining driver to work that inaugural day in 1981, the date brings back a flood of memories and a heartfelt grin.
"I'm proud of the 25 years," said Dorn, 69. "I've seen a lot of changes. Big changes. And I think we're going to see a lot more changes for the good. The best thing that happened to Calgary was LRT."
Big changes indeed.
Within the next two years, Calgary will complete extensions in the northwest and northeast sectors of the city. Forty new cars will be added to its fleet of 116 beginning this year.
In the longer term, hundreds of millions of dollars will likely be spent on extensions to the west, southeast and north-central quadrants.
Rail service connecting Calgary to Airdrie, Okotoks, Cochrane and even Banff is not beyond the realm of possibility.
But it all started with a single line connecting Anderson station to city hall on May 25, 1981, with about 300 onlookers gathered to see the sleek, smooth train pull into the station with Klein at the controls, breaking a ceremonial ribbon.
For transportation planners, it was the realization of a 15-year-old dream initially scoffed at as a U-turn from progress. It also flew in the face of skeptics and critics, many of whom were provincial MLAs, who argued the city wasn't big enough to support such a system.
At an initial cost of $175 million, critics predicted it would be an unwanted burden to taxpayers who'd cry for more roads.
But supporters were certain the C-Train was on the right track. They were convinced that with the city's bus system straining to overload and roads too costly, the
C-Train offered the only practical solution to transportation problems associated with the booming growth.
"Mass transit is the only way to go," Klein told reporters after the LRT's first run.
"People stuck in traffic jams will watch this thing whiz by at 80 kilometres and they won't be able to resist."
But the C-Train's journey into being was a long and winding one.
The late 1960s was the heyday of costly heavy rail systems like the Toronto subway, which could carry twice as many people as Calgary needed at twice the cost the small city could afford. And when LRT was first mentioned, it was greeted with laughter.
The decision was finally taken by former mayor Rod Sykes' administration in 1977. Today, he credits the decision to the determination of civic staff, who backed the strategy, and his council colleagues, who eventually got behind it, too.
But it wasn't an easy fight, Sykes recalled.
"The attitude if you mentioned transit was, 'Well, we took the streetcar tracks out. We're not going to bring them back,' " he said.
In 1981, the 12.9-kilometre stretch of the south line opened, followed by the eastern jag to Whitehorn in 1985. Two years later, the third leg of the system began serving the northwest, running up to the University of Calgary just in time for the Olympics.
Further extensions of the northwest and south lines followed in 1990, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Today, Calgary's C-Train system stretches 42 kilometres with 36 stations, representing a total investment of more than $1 billion.
And John Hubbell, director of Calgary Transit, expects the next 25 years to be just as significant.
"We've got three lines now. In 25 years, you're going to see another three lines," he said.
One of the more intriguing ideas is a subway below 8th Avenue to accommodate busy trains from the south and northwest. The scheme is based on Calgary's projected transit demands when the city's population hits 1.5 million, expected to be in about 25 years.
But the key hurdle for any expansion is money.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier, who says LRT will play a critical role in Calgary's transportation future, cites the need to invest in transit as a good reason why the province needs to leave behind its half of the property taxes collected in the city.
"It's vital," Bronconnier said. "A strong transportation system is really about a strong quality of life and strong economy."
To that end, the mayor believes it may be time to start talking about another bold move: regional service.
"It's time with the explosive growth in southern Alberta to even contemplate a commuter rail system," he said in an interview.
"You could do a joint effort with neighbouring municipalities, maybe even one of the heavy rail users . . . (and) utilize some of their lines.
"There may be a way in which to start looking at linking the LRT in the city with a heavy commuter rail -- and maybe even as a first phase of the high-speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton."
Such an idea may seem too fantastic, but so did the C-Train not so many years ago.
City's C-Train has continent's highest ridership
Photograph by : Mikael Kjellstrom, Calgary Herald
Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald
Published: Monday, May 22, 2006
Twenty five years ago this week, Calgary rolled the dice on a "hopped-up streetcar" system made up of a single, 12.9-kilometre stretch of track, blasted by critics as too big for a city so small.
Today, the city's C-Train has the highest ridership of any LRT system in North America, carrying 230,000 riders each weekday. And it seems the biggest concern isn't filling the cars, but trying to find a seat during rush hour.
"Little Ralphie's Train" -- as transit employees dubbed it during Premier Ralph Klein's tenure as mayor -- celebrates its silver anniversary on Thursday having carried a mind-boggling 800 million riders.
And for old-timers such as George Dorn, the service's most senior operator and the last remaining driver to work that inaugural day in 1981, the date brings back a flood of memories and a heartfelt grin.
"I'm proud of the 25 years," said Dorn, 69. "I've seen a lot of changes. Big changes. And I think we're going to see a lot more changes for the good. The best thing that happened to Calgary was LRT."
Big changes indeed.
Within the next two years, Calgary will complete extensions in the northwest and northeast sectors of the city. Forty new cars will be added to its fleet of 116 beginning this year.
In the longer term, hundreds of millions of dollars will likely be spent on extensions to the west, southeast and north-central quadrants.
Rail service connecting Calgary to Airdrie, Okotoks, Cochrane and even Banff is not beyond the realm of possibility.
But it all started with a single line connecting Anderson station to city hall on May 25, 1981, with about 300 onlookers gathered to see the sleek, smooth train pull into the station with Klein at the controls, breaking a ceremonial ribbon.
For transportation planners, it was the realization of a 15-year-old dream initially scoffed at as a U-turn from progress. It also flew in the face of skeptics and critics, many of whom were provincial MLAs, who argued the city wasn't big enough to support such a system.
At an initial cost of $175 million, critics predicted it would be an unwanted burden to taxpayers who'd cry for more roads.
But supporters were certain the C-Train was on the right track. They were convinced that with the city's bus system straining to overload and roads too costly, the
C-Train offered the only practical solution to transportation problems associated with the booming growth.
"Mass transit is the only way to go," Klein told reporters after the LRT's first run.
"People stuck in traffic jams will watch this thing whiz by at 80 kilometres and they won't be able to resist."
But the C-Train's journey into being was a long and winding one.
The late 1960s was the heyday of costly heavy rail systems like the Toronto subway, which could carry twice as many people as Calgary needed at twice the cost the small city could afford. And when LRT was first mentioned, it was greeted with laughter.
The decision was finally taken by former mayor Rod Sykes' administration in 1977. Today, he credits the decision to the determination of civic staff, who backed the strategy, and his council colleagues, who eventually got behind it, too.
But it wasn't an easy fight, Sykes recalled.
"The attitude if you mentioned transit was, 'Well, we took the streetcar tracks out. We're not going to bring them back,' " he said.
In 1981, the 12.9-kilometre stretch of the south line opened, followed by the eastern jag to Whitehorn in 1985. Two years later, the third leg of the system began serving the northwest, running up to the University of Calgary just in time for the Olympics.
Further extensions of the northwest and south lines followed in 1990, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Today, Calgary's C-Train system stretches 42 kilometres with 36 stations, representing a total investment of more than $1 billion.
And John Hubbell, director of Calgary Transit, expects the next 25 years to be just as significant.
"We've got three lines now. In 25 years, you're going to see another three lines," he said.
One of the more intriguing ideas is a subway below 8th Avenue to accommodate busy trains from the south and northwest. The scheme is based on Calgary's projected transit demands when the city's population hits 1.5 million, expected to be in about 25 years.
But the key hurdle for any expansion is money.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier, who says LRT will play a critical role in Calgary's transportation future, cites the need to invest in transit as a good reason why the province needs to leave behind its half of the property taxes collected in the city.
"It's vital," Bronconnier said. "A strong transportation system is really about a strong quality of life and strong economy."
To that end, the mayor believes it may be time to start talking about another bold move: regional service.
"It's time with the explosive growth in southern Alberta to even contemplate a commuter rail system," he said in an interview.
"You could do a joint effort with neighbouring municipalities, maybe even one of the heavy rail users . . . (and) utilize some of their lines.
"There may be a way in which to start looking at linking the LRT in the city with a heavy commuter rail -- and maybe even as a first phase of the high-speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton."
Such an idea may seem too fantastic, but so did the C-Train not so many years ago.
