The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce plans to have a front row seat when the rail relocation discussion resumes later this year.

The City’s Transportation Committee is slated to review phase two of administration’s Rail Relocation Study sometime in 2020.

The chamber continues to call for the relocation of rail lines from Saskatoon’s major arteries to improve access to area businesses and create more feasible infill opportunities.

The business group believes there would also be a chance to have active transit corridors like bus rapid transit or even light rail transit in the future.

President and C-E-O Darla Lindbjerg also feels it’s a safety issue pointing to the recent derailment about 100km east of the city that ignited 1.5 million tons of crude oil.

She notes the chamber favours moving the track over building overpasses and underpasses because of the potential for lost business and the considerable expense of construction and maintenance.

Lindbjerg says they realize the cost and who will pay are the major questions that need to be answered.

The chamber is hopeful, remembering the benefits to the city from the relocation of tracks out of the downtown in the 1960’s and wants to build on that experience.

The City paid 2.7 million dollars to CN for the 7-million dollar project.