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1/24/2022
Transport Canada is soliciting public input on the proposed Lac-Megantic rail bypass construction project in Quebec.
The "public consultation" period will last until Feb. 4. Residents are invited to provide comments in writing on the project, including on the main structures, construction activities, committees, means of communication with stakeholders and communities and railway operations, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.
Two virtual sessions on the project will be held Jan. 27.
The comment period is part of the application for the project’s federal approval by the Canadian Transportation Agency. The governments of Canada and Quebec will jointly fund the project to be managed by Canadian Pacific, which will also own the bypass.
When completed, the new, nearly eight-mile rail line will pass through the municipalities of Nantes, Lac-Megantic and Frontenac.
The bypass is being built in response to the July 2013 Lac-Megantic rail disaster, in which an unattended crude-oil train, which had been parked in Nantes at the top of a slope, rolled down a hill before derailing at a high rate of speed in Lac-Megantic. The derailment led to an explosion and fire that killed 47 people and destroyed Lac-Megantic's downtown.