Proposed Calgary - Banff passenger service

Group is working on bringing passenger service back to the Calgary - Banff corridor and has apparently got private funding for $300 million if 3 levels of government fund the other half https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/300-m ... l-20180719

I loved the link and I hope this train becomes a reality. But the numbers on costs in just this one link don't add up, which brings up the question why?

Private money available $300 million to fund half.
Public money match needed $300 nillion to fund the remaining half.
$300 million plus $300 million equals $600 million.

Later in the article, the costs per kilometer is stated as $5 million.
The article states it is 128 kilometers between Calgary and Banff.
$5 million per kilometer times 128 kilometers equals $640 million.

$600 million does NOT equal $640 million!!!!!!
Where is the remaining $40 million going to come from?

Maybe the writer of the article made a typo, but if not, their math is horrible.

So what's the real deal here? CP gets their Calgary-Banff line fully double-tracked, paid for largely by government, and all they have to do is provide reasonable dispatch priority for a few passenger trains every day? They probably have to maintain it as well.

Another way to do the math in the article is 600 / 128, which gets you a price of $4.7 million per km. Talking to the press it's easier to round up to $5 million.

The article also clearly states that it would be a dedicated track using the existing CP corridor, so running parallel to the CP track.

Their goal of a $15 fare looks reasonable. Took a quick check and Toronto Union to Kitchener Station is approx 110 km (by road) and VIA charges $23 plus tax, GO charges a cash fare of $17.70 or Presto of $15.72 (both include taxes I believe).

Doing some more research there is some business experience behind this, and some existing money. The person in the article and her husband have formed a company called Liricon Capital and have a proposal to turn the former freight yard into a parking lot, creating businesses on the other side of the station, and they bought a Banff ski hill. The husband part of the pair has had a successful business career in Calgary (3) so I would assume they know how to work the numbers and even have contacts both in the private and public sectors to try and move this forward.

https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/parki ... rettyPhoto

https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/norqu ... b-20180308

https://business.financialpost.com/comm ... out-energy