Rail for the Valley: Coming Soon
Posted on November 22nd, 2007 in surrey, transportation |
I’m sure you’ve heard the argument many times before, whether through VALTAC, the LRC, or Rail for the Valley: we, South of the Fraser, want a real transportation alternative on rail. The basis of this idea is restoring passenger service along a rail route that used to carry residents from Carrall Street in Vancouver all the way to Chilliwack. The rail between Vancouver and New West had been decommissioned with the SkyTrain, which now follows the same right-of-way, but from New West Quay eastwards, it’s all still there, being used for freight. The right-of-way is owned by BC Hydro, for almost the whole route, while different sections of the railway are owned by different companies - most of the rail through Surrey is owned by Southern Railway of BC, while from Cloverdale onwards, it’s owned by CN Rail.
Restoring passenger service is feasible. The City of Surrey did a report that concluded, based on the provision of a Germany style “community rail”, between Scott Road and Cloverdale, service could be restored for a cost of $100-150 million. TransLink did it’s own separate study, concluding, that based on a heavy rail West Coast Express type system, between Scott Road and Langley, service could be restored for $600 million. Regardless of either, both cost far less than SkyTrain (ranging from $2-3 billion), or even LRT (with the Evergreen Line being $1 billion). While the various environmental and transportation advocacy groups continue to call on the Ministry of Transportation to “Stop Gateway” and divert funding into transit projects like restoring passenger service on the old InterUrban line, there has been a few real steps to actually bringing it back. The Fraser Valley Heirtage Railway Society, formed in 2001, has been voluntarily doing a whole bunch of work over the years to “bringing back passenger service”. This included raising funds and purchasing two old InterUrban cars, one of which is still being resorted (BCER 1225), set to be complete in 2009. The second car, BCER 1304, will then begin it’s restoration. They’ve replicated the decaying old Sullivan Station, and have also built a mini track on their site for open houses during the summer.
The City of Surrey, after receiving it’s report on restoring service, had two options: pursue community rail, or heritage rail - heritage rail meaning a tourist like service similar to the one running in Downtown Vancouver by TRAMS. For financial reasons, they decided to launch the “Heritage Rail Demonstration Project“. The City, through the project, are working closely with the FVHRS to determine the roles and responsibilities of each organization in working together to make this a reality. Through the Demonstration Project, Surrey has been looking into powering the rail service with a hydrogen engine, and incorporating it’s route into part of the “Hydrogen Highway“, a legacy from the Olympics. That said, with the Olympics occurring in 2010, and the first car, BCER 1225, set to be restored by 2009, the timing fits perfectly to make it happen. However, as always, the question now is funding. Unless the province, the MoT, TransLink, or BC Hydro steps up to the plate to either provide some capital or help with acquiring a hydrogen-based engine, this restoration effort will be dead on arrival. Nobody wants to see, after all the work the volunteers have put into car restoration, the trains just sit in a museum. If we really want rail back, let’s not fight a battle we cannot win. Let’s work with what Surrey has pursued and paid for so far, and make the baby step of proving passenger rail service is a viable option: support the “Heritage Rail Demonstration Project”.
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4 Responses
It seems almost guaranteed that the dreams of a hydrogen engine will derail this project. Why not go with a locomotive that might be available and cheap(er), like a diesel? This seems to be good enough for all of the other rail traffic south of the Fraser, and if it’s any consolation I believe “diesel” locos are actually diesel-electric serial hybrids.
I can sleep happier tonight.
Geez, rail for 2009… rapid bus for 2012/2013? Hmm, something smells fishy… A very positive equation: cheaper, better, sooner vs. costlier, worse, later. Now if only Falcon could do the math. “Let’s get the train rolling!”
I live/work in the GVRD, have family in the FV, don’t drive and am transit dependent. I also love skytrain and any form of rail rapid transit (I’ve spent a lot of time traveling on the german rail system). However, I believe that a small fleet of buses servicing the chilliwack-abbotsford-surrey skytrain corridor will be far more efficient and cost effective than using the existing rail corridor. At least in the near to medium term.
The existing rail corridor is not situated near any areas of residential density. A rail solution would require feeder buses to move people from the main centres of gravity for the communities to the rail station. Why not just route an express bus from these areas directly to the King George skytrain station?
A bus system would be scalable in that it could start out small and grow to meet demand. (Assuming that it doesn’t start too small; it would need to provide a minimal level of service to attract ridership.)
A good starting number would be a fleet of around 12 buses based in Abbotsford. I figure about a 45 minute trip between the western outskirts of Abbotsford and the King George station, or to Chilliwack. Ideally 10 minute peak period frequency from Abbotsford, and 30 min peak period frequency from Chilliwack.
And this probably could be done for around than $10M~$20M per year, while being cash positive.
Then, when the ridership is established, the economics of a rail solution can be re-evaluated based on cost AND quality of service.
@ Mark. The point of pursuing the hydrogen engine was so that the project could get partially funded by the provincial government as an Olympic Legacy and part of the Hydrogen Highway. Doing the Heritage Rail Project with just a simple diesel engine would cost $100 million, money the City of Surrey surely does not have available.
@ BBY. I agree wholeheartedly that TransLink should have vastly expanded service for crossregional express buses. You can actually look forward to a post about this very soon.