Preliminary work to start on Lac-Mégantic rail bypass, a decade after Quebec derailment disaster

More than 10 years after the Lac-Mégantic train derailment, Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez has announced the start of preliminary work on the rail bypass.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised in 2018 to move the railway away from the city's core. But for years, trains have continued to pass through what used to be downtown, much of it incinerated on July 6, 2013 when a train carrying crude oil crashed and killed 47 people.

The bypass will take the railway out of town and Rodriguez announced that while Ottawa will pay for the work, the municipality of Lac-Mégantic will carry it out.

He said the federal government has reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific Kansas City for the work and the agreement will allow for a call for tender to hire the contractors for the bypass.

Friday's news marked the minister's first update on the project since taking over the portfolio from Omar Alghabra in July. Rodriguez says it's important to move forward.

"We're sitting in a city where everyday, everyday, that same train, even longer, is passing by with dangerous products so the people — the same people that survived and lived that tragedy — are seeing and hearing the same train everyday," said Rodriguez.

"That has to stop."

'Project will go ahead,' says mayor

While visiting Lac-Mégantic, Rodriguez said he met with the mayor and several community members as well as the mayors of nearby Nantes and Frontenac.

Julie Morin, mayor of Lac-Mégantic, says she welcomed the minister's visit. Although she wants to ensure the bypass has as few negative impacts as possible, she says it's necessary to create a safer community.

"We all lost loved ones … It marked every one of our lives," said Morin.

"(Rodriguez's) mandate is clear: the project will go ahead."

'We're going to be traumatized in the same way'

The bypass has received heavy pushback from many residents in Lac-Mégantic and from people in the neighbouring municipalities of Nantes and Frontenac.

Raymond Lafontaine lost his son, two daughters-in-law and an employee of his construction company.

He was present at Friday's announcement because he owns land that will be affected by the bypass.

He says the bypass project is a political promise but no longer makes sense for the community.

"My message is simple. In life, there is always a balance of good decisions to make that represent us. The bypass project is not passing by at the right place," said Lafontaine.

"There are 80 per cent of people against this because it's not passing by at the right spot… we're going to be traumatized in the same way."

In February, about 92 per cent of residents who voted were against the proposed project in Frontenac and officially confirmed what many locals say they already knew — the proposal is not welcome in the town.