How important is the MoU between Liricon and CPKC Rail?

The MoU between Liricon and CPKC Rail to lease a 25 ft wide strip of land stretching approximately 90 miles from Calgary Airport to the Banff Train Station is the key to a fast direct express airport to downtown connection and timely and cost effective onward connection to Banff.
CABR is the only project which has such an MoU with CPKC Rail and the MoU has already been renewed twice (most recently on October 27, 2023) while Government of Alberta makes a decision on the project.
The MoU sets out the key terms and conditions for passenger use of the corridor and provides a strong basis to proceed into design and permitting work.
Freight railroads are typically strongly averse to sharing their alignment with other services and Liricon’s successful negotiation of the MoU is testimony to the strong trust established through negotiation of the long term lease over the historic Banff Train Station, expansion to include 20 acres of CPKC lands around the station for intercept parking and through more than 100 meetings over a five-year period leading up to the fall of 2021.
The CPKC MoU is an integral part of the CABR proponents Enhanced Unsolicited Bid proposal that was delivered to the Ministry of Transportation in November of 2021.
It cannot be assumed that the offer to lease a portion of the corridor sufficient for dedicated passenger rail tracks will be open indefinitely or would be offered to other counterparties or for other projects.