Now owner of the Quebec bridge, the federal government however has no control over the use of the railway deck or the road deck, the federal Minister of Public Services and Supply, Jean-Yves Duclos, announced on Wednesday.
This means that Canadian National (CN) will always have the last word on traffic on the rail line of a possible public transport system, tramway or commuter train, in the Capitale-Nationale region.
Remember that last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended a 31-year saga over the maintenance of the bridge by purchasing it from CN for the symbolic sum of $1, while planning to invest $1 billion over 40 years for its repair.
Both the Prime Minister and the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, then dangled the use of this rail and road work for a possible structuring public transport project, as part of the broader debate on the relevance of a transport project. tramway and third inter-river link in the Capitale-Nationale region.
However, it is the CN which will still determine the rights of way and priority rules, Mr. Duclos confirmed Wednesday morning.
“Everything relating to the use of the railway deck is the responsibility of CN,” explained the minister in a short press scrum in Ottawa.
“The Canadian government does not control the use of these aprons,” he said.
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