CP Rail will be building a new track along its mainline through downtown Kamloops, which will see the Jack Gregson Trail shut down permanently.

The corporation says the trail will be closed for good as of Nov. 9. It says the pathway is located on its right of way for its rail tracks, and was “neither designed nor intended to be a public pathway.” CP also says the Jack Gregson Trail is not part of the city’s official trail system.

From west to east, the trail starts at the end of Lorne Street East and runs more than a kilometre in length to Vicars Road. It has existed for several decades and at one point was a main connection for walkers, runners and bikers between Valleyview and downtown.

The new track will make room for what CP calls “significantly increasing shipment volumes” moving through Kamloops on its rail line. In December of 2019, CN and Teck Resources signed a new long-term contract to ship coal from the Kootenays to the Neptunes Terminal port in North Vancouver, and CN uses part of CP’s line from the Kootenays to Kamloops to accommodate that.

CP Rail says when it expands its line through downtown Kamloops, residents can expect to hear heavy machinery, during the day and occasionally overnight, and will notice more dust in the air.

The company has not said what its specific timeline is to do the work, what the length of the new track will be through Kamloops, nor what kind of investment this project represents.

“We don’t have anything further to add at this time,” a spokesperson for CP said over email to NL News, after being asked the same questions repeatedly.