A new study paid for by the Nova Scotia government suggests electric trains could soon be running between Sydney River and Cape Breton University.

CBU conducted the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Light Rail Transit Study, which found the first phase could be completed in three years at a cost of $143 million, if three levels of government provide the funding.

Project manager Kent MacIntyre said most of the rail line already exists, left over from the community's industrial coal mining and steel making history dating back to the last century.

"This is a continuation of legacy dollars that were…