lenaitch
Senior Member
I made a similar suggestion before.
An admittedly cursory view suggests that using the Barrie-Collingwood track to access the #400 ROW, follow that to #11, and use the #11 ROW to just north of Orillia before returning the old alignment looks fairly workable.
Obviously not cheap, many overpasses would require replacement, but with a couple of minor pinch points it doesn't look like it would require vast property acquisition.
Of course its a still a less direct route than the original ROW, and there are real questions about cost; but I think they at least merit exploration.
The BCR heads west from Barrie, Hwy 400 north then northwest and Hwy 11 north. In order to swing around behind Barrie (you would have to go west - the east side of Barrie and Orillia is lake) involves several significant grades, a provincially significant wetland and a built-up area (Midhurst). And of course, buying up a lot of land. With the amount of land they would have to purchase, it would probably be financially (but certainly not politically or logistically) easier to re-establish the old ROW. There would also be the matter of the ROW within Orillia and at Casino Rama. All of this for a low frequency passenger run. It would be cheaper to fund more or longer passing tracks on the Bala sub.