paulhillsdon.com

Been emailing with Bryan Volger, one of the advocates behind what we now know as the West Coast Express. I was seeking the information to help in figuring out how to restore service to the Interurban. Here’s what he wrote:

The West Coast Express was started by myself at an all mayors rally in Port moody in 1989.  At the time the Socreds were loosing power and the N.D.P was building a winning party for the 1990 election.  At the same time the Progressive Conservatives in Ottawa were going down in the same year.  Both of those parties are no longer with us today.  The N.D.P got the majority of the seats in B.C. and pounced on my idea.  By 1990 I had formed a group of railway people from across Canada mixed with local intrest groups and called it The Lower Mainland Commuter Rail Consortium.  The Consortium dealt with national rail policy which had seen Via chopped in half and C.N. going up for sale. 

Via needed more passenger business to stay alive in Vancouver. The proposal was to run commuter rail down the BN-CN tracks and one leg would join up with B.C. Southern and the other leg would go to Mission. Both would split at Sapperton junction. When the merger plans of C.N. and B.N. fell through the commuter rail plan was moved onto C.P.R.track.  However we had reached a deal with Burlington Northern for full cooperation from B.C. Transit.

One of the members of the Consortium was Bombardier Transportation who had made bi- level cars for Toronto and Florida.  Los Angles Metrolink had ordered about 100 cars and Bombardier offered Glen Clark to order some while the line was up.  

Im 1990 I ran in Burnaby for council with the commuter rail plan. I failed to get in because with the C.P.R. I could reach the valley with C.N. access to B.C. Southern tracks at the Patullou rail bridge.  At the time in 1986 the Socreds had run light rail cars on the old interurban for Expo 86.  Most felt that would continue, but it did not. Proof that it can be done though.  

The West Coast Express was part of an international move that had Seattle next in line with the Sounder commuter rail system. The West coast of north America was doing the same thing.  These cars are all interchangeable and can be bought and sold if a track lease fails to be renewed. 

In 1992 the Cascadia Talgo trains were being built for Amtrack service between Seattle and Vancouver which would connect all commuter rail operations by train on the West Coast. 

In 1993 after a year of speeches at cities between Burnaby and Mission every riding was now N.D.P. 

The North East Transportation Plan was put together by community groups and B.C. Transit for a fifteen year transportation plan including highways and train infrastructure.  It got approval from the B.C. Government and the first objective was to get a deal with the C.P.R.  Through the B.C. Terms of Union between Ottawa and B.C. to bring the province into confederation linking Canada by rail and the recent law suit in 1989 by the Socreds to stop Ottawa from shutting down the E&N on Vancouver Island strengthened the B.C. hand.

The cars were ordered in 1992 from Bombardier at 2 million each and G.M. supplied the locomotives. 

In 1994 the commuter deal was done giving the commuter rail plan success and the Millennium line to run parallel to the BN-CN tracks.  By 1995 the schedule was fixed to have only the commuter rail running in time slots to avoid collisions with freight trains.  In 1995 the N.D.P had a name contest and the West Coast Express was chosen. 
 
In 1996 The Millennium Line was planned because the people of Burnaby did not want Skytrain running from Edmonds to Lougheed Mall across Burnaby.  With full cooperation from the B.N. and a huge rally the public told Burnaby to build the line from new Westminster over the B.N. yards to Lougheed Mall and follow the original proposal with Skytrain. 
 
Meanwhile the freight company on Vancouver Island Rail America was closing down and B.C. Southern took over.  Today theyshare the track with Via Rail and there is no reason why they cannot run in the Fraser Valley also. The President of B.C. Southern told me this year its a done deal if the governments have money. We will not go anywhere without the government.  Obviously the former government railway owner followed the same recipe as C.P.Rail. and Express.
 
So I have got permission to press ahead with railforthevalley.com and other groups.  I have submitted a plan to the President of B.C. Southern whom may not reply until the envelope arrives from Victoria. I have written Mr. falcon and he is not against the railway serving the people with passenger rail. He knows the freeway faults and the high gas prices that just started going up last year.  I believe he will announce it before the next election.   

The future expansion of the express was to go around Coquitlam on the C.P tracks from Braid to Coquitlam Station, however I believe that is the Evergreen line with Skytrain now. 

The other expansion was to Abbotsford to Mission over the C.P.R. bridge, however now Via does not use that route it is closed to all passenger trains. 

Via was awarded a multi-million dollar repair contract by The West coast Express to maintain the cars. Now Via could stay in Vancouver. 

The ground work has been done it needs money and I think you have it. Falcon needs pushed, but his political timing to keep the valley Liberal is important. 

We have suggest B.C. buy into Bombardier fast train technology being made for Sweden in Canada.  The factory goes into operation this year. 

This train would getr people from Chilliwack to Whistler in three hours using the B.N. track thru Burnaby to North Vancouver and switch onto C.N. track there. 

We have suggested Colorado Rail Car EMU self propelled diesel cars the Budd cars of today.

We have recommended Bus service between Kawatlen College in Langley and The University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford as a inter-city route run by school buses or contract buses. They will pick up at both airports on the Fraser Highway. 

If you didn’t know, Portland, Oregon, is *the* leader of sustainability in the US. A key part of their success has been in providing a variety of transportation options. Since the 80’s, they’ve built multiple LRT lines, expanded their bike boulevards and cycling network, built the Portland Streetcar, and built the Portland Aerial Tram. Portland’s public transportation agency, TriMet, is now set to add a new service to their long list of options: Commuter Rail. 

In 1996, a feasibility study for a commuter rail line was initiated by Washington County, the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Wilsonville and Sherwood, TriMet, Metro, and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The project to establish a new 14.7-mile passenger rail line between Beaverton and Wilsonville has received strong support from the public and business community. It is the first commuter rail line in Oregon and one of the few suburb-to-suburb commuter rail projects in the country.

Because the line uses existing freight tracks in a dedicated corridor, construction impacts are minimal.

Passengers will ride in self-propelled diesel train cars. TriMet is working with Colorado Railcar to design and build the vehicle.

Sound familiar? 

Maybe that’s because the former Interurban rail corridor in Surrey is also an existing freight line, it is also a suburb-to-suburb route, and it’s also about 14 miles (actually only 12.22 miles or 19.66 km) in distance from Scott Road Station to Cloverdale. 

Plus, WES’ corridor was formerly home to two passenger rail services. Oregon Electric Railway and Southern Pacific Railway used to run Interurban rail services quite similar to those that were ran in the past by British Columbia Electric Railway.

Portland’s WES commuter rail service is set to open this fall. What can we learn from their experience?

1. Get everyone on board

The first feasibility study for the line was bi-partisan, bringing together various agencies and levels of government.

This initial collaboration is something we have not had going in the South of Fraser, with TransLink, Surrey, Langley Township, and The Province all launching their own studies, for various reasons, all with different conclusions. 

2. Ensure there is political will

With WES, immediately after the first study, the project gained it’s first political ally in Tom Brian, at the time, a member of the Oregon Legislature. He secured funding for follow-up studies. For 10 years, various politicians, at various levels, worked hard to secure funding to build the project. This resulted in the cost of WES being paid for by the federal government, State of Oregon Lottery Bond Proceeds, TriMet and GARVEE Bonds, and contributions by local governments and Washington County.

While a number of organizations continue to call for “Rail for the Valley”, there is no consensus among citizens, let alone politicians about how or where expanded transit South of the Fraser should be. For this, among other reasons, bringing back rail on the Interurban route isn’t being unanimously championed.

3. It doesn’t take long to achieve 

The whole time span from the first study to the opening of the service is 12 years. Consider this though: 3 of those years was spent just doing the initial study! It took seven years for design, engineering, environmental assessments, and funding to be secured. Construction took a total of two years. 

Realistically, bringing back rail in the South of Fraser could be achieved even faster than WES’ experience. BC Hydro already owns the right-of-way to the route, something Portland didn’t have. Not to mention, Southern Railway has already stated it is keen on incorporating passenger rail service on the route. And considering how fast Kevin Falcon can push projects through, rail out here could be built quite quickly - in a matter of years. But we aren’t at this stage yet. 

We in Surrey are still at step 1 and until we set some of our initial problems straight, we will never be getting commuter, or community, rail service happening anytime soon. Always keep hope, and transform that hope into action - then maybe we can get this off the ground.

It’s been proven time and again in public transit that, if you build it, they will come. Just ask any of those Greater Vancouver commuters crammed like sardines in SkyTrain cars during the morning or evening rush hour.

This is happening now despite arguments made during the planning of the existing rapid-transit system that not enough folks would use such a service.

Now, we’re hearing similar criticisms from those who oppose using the old Inter-Urban route for light-rail service in the Fraser Valley. There’s not enough population density, they say.

The folks displaying this attitude clearly have a hard time seeing beyond their noses.

Transit must be planned in a long-term context. And all growth projections for south-of-Fraser communities, from Delta to Chilliwack, agree that this region alone will one day have a population larger than that of the whole of Metro Vancouver today.

Surrey already has the largest number of children enrolled in K-12 schools of any municipality in the province. And its population is expected to surpass that of Vancouver in the next 20 years.

Also, the 18-24 demographic in the Fraser Valley is growing at six times the provincial average.

The most efficient and “green” way to move large numbers of people is via light-rail transit.

Given the population growth in this region, this transit option should be a no-brainer.

So, build it and they will come. Just ask the sardines.

[The Province]

Once The Province hops on the bandwagon, you know something is going here.

It’s my understanding that there are two things holding back restored rail service on the Interurban route: TransLink and Kevin Falcon.

TransLink tends to operate in its own little bubble and isn’t nearly as progressive as one would hope. Not to mention they are continuously behind schedule in implementing their plans. You may attempt to blame that on lack of funding, but when they refuse to even try a cheap, innovative idea like rail for the valley, you know that the planners there are rather stuck up in their data analysis and can’t quite think outside the box. Not a personal attack here - just TransLink as a whole ;)

Their excuses include lack of density and population along the route. Of course, they don’t mention the big key that The Province’s editorial mentioned - build it and they will come. If you give us roads and highways, of course development will be car oriented. Open a railway and the shift won’t just immediately happen, it will happen over the course of years. But it will happen. Just look at the success the Millennium Line now is with all the new high rise developments around the stations - not that long ago it was called a major failure and waste of money. Which is exactly why we shouldn’t build an expensive fancy system that will take years to attract sufficient ridership. Restore Interurban service cheaply at the beginning and begin upgrading, adding new trains, and double tracking the route as ridership increases. Cheap, effective method to wean us off cars!

TransLink is giving the same crap to Vancouver with their Downtown Streetcar plan. Ironically enough, a new streetcar system in Vancouver and restored community rail in Surrey would both cost just over $100 million. Anyways, TransLink’s excuse is that the streetcar will take ridership away from bus routes and that they hadn’t incorporated a streetcar in their long term transit expansion plans for Vancouver. God, what a friggin’ stupid excuse. Buses can be diverted elsewhere in the region! And talk about a bureaucracy if they can’t even see what a smart idea it would be to have a sleek, modern streetcar linking many of the attractions in Downtown Vancouver.

The second reason rail for the Valley isn’t coming anytime soon is Kevin Falcon. Before Gateway came along, he gladly gave $75,000 provincial dollars to Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society. Ever since though, there’s been no money, nor any provincial support for the restoration attempts. First, he decided highways are the best solution to traffic congestion for the Valley. Then, after some arm twisting by his boss, Mr. Campbell, he included a short SkyTrain extension into Surrey as part of the Provincial Transit Plan. Falcon has, however, also promised that the Province will launch a study into the possibility of restoring rail service on the Interurban route - although I haven’t heard of any progress on this initiative. So unless he suddenly changes his mind, I don’t see him supporting rail for the Valley. And expect the typical spin in the study.

Which is all quite unfortunate, because all we would need is one of these two to hop on the rail bandwagon and it would get done like *that*.

Time to enter politics, eh?

Been doing some studying on restoring rail service to the Interurban. I see its long term value as a commuter rail route that will facilitate far better movement between towns and city cores in the Valley, but still enabling long distance travel east to Chilliwack or west to Vancouver. The advantage of standard at-grade rail has always been its flexibility and cheap price, so I don’t like the idea of immediately making it into an LRT system. Besides, LRT is more suited for an urban setting with high densities - something that, truthfully, isn’t the strengths of most communities along the Interurban’s route (as compared to other areas of the Valley).

In any case, there are many arguments against restoring service, from cost to population density to competition with planned BRT routes - however, these are obviously excuses. If there’s the political will to get something done, it will get done.

As of this moment, at my current understanding of the problem, there’s a few things going on.

1. The FVHRS is restoring an original Interurban vehicle to run as a historic/tourist train between Cloverdale and Sullivan. They are years behind schedule, and won’t likely be done the restoration until late 2009.
2. TransLink does not support restoring rail service on the route because it cannibalizes its current transit expansion plans for the Valley. All public transport must be either run, or have the approval, of TransLink.
3. As much as it would like to bring rail back, the City of Surrey does not have the capital funds to upgrade the route for, even community, rail service - let alone a real, strong, regional transit connection. Thus it is pursuing partnerships, and providing limited funding, to help FVHRS get it’s historic/tourism train off the ground.
4. The federal government is doing a review of allowing passenger service along national rail corridors that could impact any rail revival attempts.

So, what is the estimated cost to bring back the Interurban?

Well, according to the UMA Study done for the City of Surrey:

…operating an accessible, modern Community Rail service every 20 minutes during peak weekday periods between the Cloverdale and Scott Road Stations, with a connection to the Scott Road SkyTrain Station on a single track with sidings, with some limited double track sections in the station areas in order to provide accessible service, and a signal and communications system for the corridor. The high order of magnitude cost estimate for this service is projected to have a total capital cost range of approximately $80.0 million (i.e. using British Parry People Mover vehicles) to $110.0 million (i.e. using Talent LRT vehicles) and an annual operating cost of approximately $6.0 million. This is on top of the $9.0 million capital cost sunk for Phase One, noted above bringing the total capital cost for Phase Two range to $90.0 to $120.0 million range.

The capital costs include the following components: right-of-way and grade crossing improvements; passenger stations; adding vehicle storage and maintenance facilities and track access to the maintenance/storage facility at Sullivan Station; modifying some industrial sidings; double tracking the station areas to ensure physical separation of right and passenger services; providing adjacent station parking and pedestrian access improvements;providing new LRT- like vehicles; installing fare revenue collection equipment; and implementing a train communication and signal system to ensure safety of the system.

Course, running peak service is rather retarded. I mean, yes, it will aid a few of us who travel downtown, but it certainly doesn’t help the majority of residents who travel, throughout the day, *in* the South of Fraser area. That’s why I liked the old Interurban timetable I found. Service wasn’t at super high frequencies like that of the SkyTrain, but it was more than peak periods - it was a couple runs throughout the day. And it had specials for the weekends!

According to the UMA Study, Southern Railway currently only runs…

… up to four freight trains daily (two in each direction). One train usually leaves from their New Westminster yard about 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm going eastward and returns westward to New Westminster between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am. Another train leaves the New Westminster yard between midnight and 1:00 am and returns to their New Westminster yard between 6:00 am and 7:00 am depending upon the level of coal/freight traffic moving on the main freight rail service line out of the region.

So, theoretically, there’s no reason we couldn’t run service beyond peak periods. Seems like the busiest times for the route are around 12am. And I can actually testify for this, considering I can hear the train when it runs through Cloverdale, a couple of blocks from where I live.

I truly believe that it’ll take a real pilot project, where people can get on a train and ride it along the route, to really bring the community support out in droves. I suppose that’s kind of what the City of Surrey is trying to do by supporting the FVHRS’ initiatives. However, I have a different idea.

So, based on what we know, here’s the times the tracks are busy:

• 4 pm - 5 pm
• 10 pm - 1 am
• 6 am - 7 am

Now, TransLink already has a commuter rail system - the West Coast Express. It’s my understanding that that service has five actual trains, with god knows how many cars that are attached to each “set”. They are used in peak periods on weekdays only.

So, here’s my proposal:

TransLink should take a West Coast Express train after rush hour Friday night, and plop it down in the railyards in Surrey near the Patullo Bridge. Then, starting from 7 am to 4 pm, run the service, up and down the route.

Theoretically, if it takes about 40 mins from New West to Cloverdale, you could create a timetable that would have the train coming back to each stop, every hour, in an alternate direction. Take a look:

Let the freight go by from 4 to 5, and then put it back on for evening service. Do this all weekend. See how it goes. Watch for the reception it gets.

And you wouldn’t have to spend a penny. Maybe get some wooden step stools to get on and off the train. And make it free. Let families hop on and take the route roundtrip depending on their departure point. Let people take surveys of the service. Have sketches showing what a possible rail system would look like.

We have the train. We have the time. We have the initial agreements from Southern Railway.

Let’s make it happen. Once people see how revolutionary this would be for Surrey, and the possibilities it opens up to the whole Fraser Valley, the campaign to bring back rail will be unstoppable!

I was at the Surrey Archives today, and while going through a *ton* of documents, I came across an old timetable from the BC Electric Railway’s Interurban Line. Here’s a quick rundown of what I found from the 1924 timetable:

• Service ran three times a day in both directions, for a total of six runs both east and westbound, all the way from Chilliwack to New West and back again. There was additional runs leaving from Jardine (in Langley), and from Cloverdale (in Surrey).
• Times were spaced out throughout the day, rather than the rush hour commuter service the West Coast Express provides.
• Westbound from Chilliwack to New West: 8:05A, 1:40P, 6:20P
• Eastbound from New West to Chilliwack: 12:15P, 5:50P, 9:00P
• From New West, it took:
  • 24 mins to Newton
  • 40 mins to Cloverdale
  • 53 mins to Langley City
  • 1 hour and 40 mins to Abbotsford
  • 2 hours and 40 mins to Chilliwack

Nathan Pachal, former writer of the VALTAC blog, started up his own site today. I found some more recent timetable information on his Document Archive. This rundown covers Interurban service in 1950, just before it was shut down:

• Service ran three times a day in both directions, for a total of sux runs both east and westbound all the way from Chilliwack to Vancouver and back again. Service was express from Vancouver to New West - local service on this stretch was provided by the Central Park Line (the equivalent of the Expo Line SkyTrain).
• Westbound from Chilliwack to Vancouver: 8:00A, 1:30P, 6:10P
• Eastbound from Vancouver to Chilliwack: 8:25A, 1:20P, 5:30P
• There was special early runs on Fridays, and late night runs on Saturdays (i.e. leave Vancouver at 11:33P, leave Langley at 1:50A)
• From Vancouver, it took:
  • 45 mins to New West
  • 1 hour and 9 mins to Newton
  • 1 hour and 25 mins to Cloverdale
  • 1 hour and 38 mins to Langley City
  • 2 hours and 25 mins to Abbotsford
  • 3 hours and 25 mins to Chilliwack

I personally find it fascinating that we were able to run a regional rail service, throughout the day, back in the 20’s, compared to our terrible lack of service today. I suppose that’s what happens when your rip up a transportation network - it takes a while to rebuild.

I can hardly imagine how much of a boon restoring service on the Interurban would be, even just for my transportation needs. My main places of travel are Cloverdale, Newton, Whalley, Fleetwood, Langley, Burnaby, and Vancouver - and the Interurban would serve five, possibly six, of them! That’s nearly everywhere I go.

That said, it doesn’t really help the denser areas in North Surrey. However, it would be huge to communities east in the Valley! I can’t even imagine how convenient and enjoyable a rail ride would be, going from Cloverdale to Langley in 13 mins, Cloverdale to Newton in 16 mins. Having a direction connection from downtown Vancouver to Surrey, without all the stops that the SkyTrain necessitates, would be AMAZING!

Please. Bring back the Interurban. I’ll do anything. Just give me my rail service!

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”.