The Greater Vancouver regional transit authority said Friday that CPR pockets $4 -- about 90 per cent of the money collected on the sale of each ticket sold on the line -- and McCallum is asking federal Transport Minister David Collenette to allow TransLink to make a new, cheaper deal with the railway.

Canadian Pacific has been fighting the release of details of its contract with TransLink on the grounds that it would hurt its competitiveness in negotiating contracts with other railway users.

Recent changes to federal transport regulations require that railways provide access to commuter rail at nominal costs, because it is in the public's interest.

That regulation could dramatically slash West Coast's payments, and allow TransLink the flexibility to purchase extra trains to expand the service.

But West Coast is locked into a 20-year contract that was signed in 1995 by the former New Democratic government while Glen Clark was minister in charge of transit.

"We can't expand it when you get that kind of a markup. It's good that it's out in the public," McCallum said.

According to the railway, it charged TransLink $8.3 million last year, or "about $4 per person per one-way trip."

TransLink calculates that CPR would cover all of its costs, and still earn at least a 100 per cent annual return on investment, if the annual track-use payment was $800,000.

It also notes that the railway was given an additional $63 million for rail-line upgrades when a 20-year service contract was signed in 1995, which works out to an additional $3.1 million a year.

"These numbers are shocking," McCallum said. "We've been trying for two years to get this out to the public - and the future of commuter rail is hanging in the balance.

"I think their actual cost is only forty cents, and they're getting markup of over 1,000 per cent. It's good that this information is out there in the public and we have to look with CPR to get it to a more reasonable amount.

"We need Mr. Collenette to be involved. West Coast does a super job, and the trains run at about 98 per cent of capacity. We want more people to use it, we want to expand it, so we have to get our CP costs down.

"When you look at the kind of markup they're getting, there are lots of reasons to get their costs down."

Last year B.C.'s freedom of information commissioner ruled in favor of a media request to release details of CPR's contract with TransLink, Greater Vancouver's regional transit authority. The railway challenged that decision in B.C. Supreme Court.

The court agreed this week with the information commissioner. CPR said Friday it would not appeal that decision.

"We remain very concerned about the precedence of requiring confidential contracts between two companies being made available to the general public," said CPR business planning and development vice-president Don Campbell said.

"Confidential contracts are a cornerstone of business relationships. However, we believe it is time to put this matter behind us."

West Coast runs five trains along the 69-kilometre route between Mission and Vancouver with daily ridership at about 8,000 passengers a day.

The average ticket on West Coast costs $4.50.