On track or off the rails? Victoria-area mayors demand action on passenger railway

Greater Victoria mayors want progress on Vancouver Island rail service to pick up steam, but some are accusing the province of putting on the brakes.

All 13 mayors of Greater Victoria municipalities in the Capital Regional District signed letters sent to Premier John Horgan and Transportation Minister Claire Trevena calling on them to begin work on restoring passenger rail service on the former E&N Line, which ran from Victoria to Courtenay and out to Port Alberni until 2011.

"The E&N — along with the addition of rapid bus lanes on Highway 1 — will provide significant environmental benefits including a reduction in GHGs [greenhouse gases] and will relieve regional gridlock. We call on you to commit to both in this February's budget," says the letter.

"We believe delaying further action means that our constituents and yours will continue to experience congestion, and that the South Island economy will be held back."

The signing of the letter by all 13 mayors is a notable display of unity on the issue as various mayors have disagreed about reviving rail service over the years.

Their letter asks the province to start by establishing rail service between Victoria and Langford, just west of the city, then expand rail connections to the rest of the Island "through a phased approach that honours the wishes of First Nations along the corridor."

Track review planned

Last month, Esquimalt-Metchosin MLA Mitzi Dean said a planned review of the tracks "is the first step to actually trying to use the corridor in a meaningful way to get people moving."

Trevena, in a statement, said that review is essential.

"This is no simple undertaking and it comes with many challenges," she said in a statement.

Trevena noted the tracks have been unused for years and will require significant upgrades. She said a solution will require cooperation and dialogue with communities along the route, including with First Nations and the Island Corridor Foundation, which is the owner of the land the tracks lie on.

She said safety work associated with the review would include a seismic risk assessment and rock fall review which may take six months. The province is working on a transportation strategy for the South Island as a whole, she added.

Rail advocates frustrated

The Island Corridor Foundation's co-chair Judith Sayers said the lack of progress from the province is frustrating but not unfamiliar.

"I have a really hard time trying to understand what the province is doing," said Sayers, who is also president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

"You don't see them insisting to this degree on First Nations consultation on things like Site C, the pipelines and different things like that.

"It just looks like this is another excuse, another delay that they're using not to just get the rail going."

Urban planner Todd Litman said rail isn't the only way forward on better transit connections for the Island.

"There are a lot of destinations that are unsuited to rail but are very suited to bus," Litman said

"I would encourage anybody that gets involved in this not to get distracted by rail and to make sure the bus service is fully developed."