Relocate downtown Sudbury tracks soon, group urges

A citizens' group in Sudbury says the plan to get rid of the rail yard downtown is picking up steam.

Imagine Sudbury isa group made up of community volunteers. The group believes relocating the rail tracks is a key to future development on 21 hectares of land.

Imagine Sudburybelieves now is the time to rip out the tracks and take the land back for business.

"We're at a point where we've completed a pre-feasibility study that has gained wide-spread support," said group member Susan Thompson.

That support comes from about 10 city councillors, the provincial and federal governments and private industry in Sudbury, and she says early talks with CP Rail have been positive.

Price tag too high?

But support is not cash-in-hand, and pre-feasibility studies are still vague.

It's still way too early to even guess at a price tag, Thompson said.

If the downtown track removal in Niagara Falls is any indication of the bill, however, it could be in the tens of millions of dollars.

The current Mayor of Niagara Falls said the $17 million cost to taxpayers was the divisive issue.

"But looking back, I'm certain that everybody feels pretty strongly it was a good decision," Jim Diodati said.

Imagine Sudbury will present its pre-feasibility study to city council in September.