1261 replies to this topic

[UrbanRail]

CP Rail paid land taxes to the municipalities until they handed it to ICF. CP Rail wouldn't have continued paying the charge after abandoning the railway, I wouldn't think, so I don't think they would have handed anything to Victoria at least since abandonment.

Also, Southern Railway does not pay land taxes, but does either maintenance (little)/ pays ICF. No trains have run south of Duncan or north of Parksville for ages, so I think that shows the viability of freight rail on the Island.

It has nothing to do with viability of freight or passenger of the line, but more on how the railway is managed. Passenger trains havent run since March of 2011.

[splashflash]

It has nothing to do with viability of freight or passenger of the line, but more on how the railway is managed. Passenger trains havent run since March of 2011.

Nobody is stopping Southern Rail from using its own money to maintain or upgrade the railway for more efficient freight movement. Passenger rail operations sucked $1 to 2 millions annually in operations subsidies and provided no track maintenance.

[amor de cosmos]

Transportation minister pledges to speak to Via Rail about Island train service
Rob Shaw / Times Colonist
August 20, 2013

Canada’s transportation minister has promised Vancouver Island rail proponents that she will talk to Via Rail about a protracted dispute over the future of local passenger rail service.

Lisa Raitt quietly met with Island Corridor Foundation officials on Monday during a trip to Nanaimo, where she was attending a ports conference.

“She hadn’t spoken to Via Rail, but will be talking to Via in the next few weeks, and this is one of the issue she’ll be discussing,” said foundation president Graham Bruce, who met with Raitt.

“She understands the constraints we’re working under … and indicated she’d be meeting in the next several weeks with Via. Clearly, with that type of action, it gives us room to keep moving things along here.”

Publicly, Raitt told reporters she appreciated the community support for restarting Island passenger rail service, and is taking the issue seriously, but that it’s up to Via Rail to decide on a new service contract.

http://www.timescolo...ervice-1.595708

[JohnN]

Blood on the tracks

ROSS CROCKFORD
FOCUS MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2013

The fight to save the E&N Railway enters the final round.

It’s a sunny Saturday morning, and the Malahat is jammed. The safety improvements are done, but it still takes 90 minutes to drive from downtown Victoria to Crofton. The highway is full of Islanders hauling groceries and building supplies, and I get stuck at practically every traffic light enroute. Judging by the growing numbers of mini-malls along the road, by 2030 the same drive will probably take twice as long.

READ MORE AT: http://www.focusonline.ca/?q=node/593

SUBMIT LETTERS TO FOCUS AT: http://www.focusonline.ca/?q=contact

[amor de cosmos]

Tourist train now on ICF's radar
Once freight expands, group will look 'more aggressively' at using E&N to expand line into a new sector
Cara Mckenna / Daily News November 8, 2013 12:00 AM

As negotiations to restore passenger service on the E&N rail line continue, bigger ideas are being floated.

A tourist feature train from the Nanaimo cruise ship terminal and an excursion train connecting Nanaimo, Ladysmith and Duncan are both in preliminary talks between local governments and railroad officials.

Island Corridor Foundation executive director Graham Bruce said he wants to focus on "tidying up arrangements" with VIA Rail to restore the E&N rail line, but hinted other opportunities are making themselves available.

"There are a lot of different opportunities but nothing I can speak authoritatively to at the moment," he said. "We've done cursory work but it's not anything where one could say, 'here's the plan, here's the cost of operation, here are the areas it could from.'" Bruce said once freight is expanded, ICF will look "more aggressively at excursion trains and tourist feature trains."

http://www.nanaimoda...-radar-1.689368

[Mike K.]

"We've done cursory work but it's not anything where one could say, 'here's the plan, here's the cost of operation, here are the areas it could [operate?] from.'"

So, there's really nothing on the table, is there?

Must have been a very slow day at the NDN

[Sparky]

^^^ Excellent article written by Ross Crockford. Well worth the read. One of the questions that remain with me is why Southern Rail has blocked the release of a 2010 study of the condition of the bridges on the E & N. What would be the downside for them to have that report made public?

[Mike K.]

Holy smokes:

Late in August, Julian Fell, Coombs-Errington director for the Regional District of Nanaimo, sent a detailed memo to the five districts, asserting that the ICF recently enacted a new operating bylaw that “imposes high levels of secrecy” preventing any real oversight of how the ICF spends the $20.9 million.

“It’s a power grab, and I believe, an attempt to profit by the people running the show,” says Fell. As he notes, in 2010 the province’s Ministry of Transportation released a study stating it would cost at least $70 million to maintain the E&N corridor sufficiently to retain VIA service. “When [the ICF] said they could do it for $20 million, apparently some of the other regional districts just rubber-stamped their contribution. But when it got to Nanaimo, some of us looked at it in detail and said, ‘This is nonsense.’”

The ICF plan will replace 110,000 railway ties and 9,000 joint-bar connections, and pour gravel ballast two inches deep the length of the E&N—but will not replace rails or fix crossings or rebuild stations, even though they were identified as concerns in previous reports. “This $20 million, you can spend it, but you’re not going to get the train for it,” Fell says. “They’ll do the work, consulting services and so on, and then when they’re done, they’ll just blame it on VIA for not giving us a train.”

Based on this information, last November eight of 17 Regional District of Nanaimo directors voted against funding the ICF plan; they were outvoted by City of Nanaimo directors, who want a train to serve Nanaimo’s new cruise-ship terminal. Now, in light of the surprising changes to the ICF’s bylaws, Fell says regional districts must reassert control of the ICF, and concentrate the $20.9 million on a few commercially viable sections of the E&N, such as a Langford-Victoria commuter line.

[amor de cosmos]

the latest

Island rail proponents upbeat on revived E&N
Rob Shaw / Times Colonist
December 25, 2013 09:42 PM

The return of passenger rail on Vancouver Island is inching closer to reality amid positive negotiations with Via Rail, say Island proponents.

“I’m feeling really good about it,” said Mary Ashley, co-chairwoman of the Island Corridor Foundation, which owns the railway track from Victoria to Courtenay.

“The frustrating part now is getting all the details done and starting on the improvement of the track so we can get passenger service up and running.”

Both sides are exchanging proposals and clarifying language, after stalled talks this fall required the intervention of provincial and federal ministers.

http://www.timescolo...ed-e-n-1.771034

[HB]

So basically nothing has changed.

 

 

They should exchange the word "inching " with "millimetering"

[HB]

Not so long ago in Esquimalt a new E&N level crossing was installed at Admirals Road, and in View Royal the E&N was still alive...
...When this rail bridge was replaced.


Down she comes. Crews lower the old rail bridge at Four Mile on the Island Highway.

Talk about heavy lifting. In a middle-of-the-night operation crews removed the old rail trestle at Four Mile on the Island Highway in View Royal on August 19. Twelve nights later they replaced it with a new steel rail bridge beam and two concrete beams for the new E&N Rail Trail, a multi-use path connecting Victoria with the West Shore.
For more information on the Rail Trail project go to www.crd.bc.ca/parks/e_n_railtrail.htm.
And in with the new. New bridges for the rail and the rail trail are in place.

 

 

 

1951

[Bingo]

Southern Railway hopes to bring trains back the Alberni Valley if the Raven coal mine gets approval

 

Once the Raven Coal mine project gets the go ahead, and the coal trains running out to the deep sea Port of Alberni, there will be lots of money for further upgrades. The tourist trains will flourish on that same subdivision transporting passengers from the cruise ship terminal that will be built in the Alberni Canal. Garbage from all the Island communities will be shipped by rail to a central biomass facility for conversion to gas.

 

and now...

 

The Raven coal mine's parent company Compliance Energy is preparing to make their second application to provincial regulators in March. The mine would produce one million tonnes of steelmaking coal annually over a 16-year life cycle, sent from the Comox Valley to Port Alberni for shipment oversees.Compliance recently determined that trucking the coal along Highway 19 and 4 is the only viable option, after private consultants advised the company that upgrading the E&N line to handle coal tonnage would cost approximately $300 million. Butzelaar said that "considerable work needs to be done" to the line, but it can be prepared to handle regular coal freight for $60 to $80 million. Southern Railway has discussed their plans with Compliance, and Butzelaar plans to meet with representatives from the mining company later this month.

 

Butzelaar said the costs would be shared by Compliance and Southern Railway, with the possibility of pursuing support from the province to prepare the E&N line for coal shipments. Daily freight traffic would entail one 40-car train, as opposed to more than 70 truckloads of coal that would pass through Cathedral Grove on Highway 4. "We would be moving one train a day with one locomotive crew," Butzelaar said. "Certainly there's a lot of efficiencies in the fuel. Rail is a lot more fuel-efficient than truck, and there's some benefits to both the province and the community. We would be taking those trucks off the road."

 

 

- See more at: http://www.avtimes.n...h.HEqrQyzY.dpuf

 

 

 

[Mike K.]

Yeah you'd be taking the trucks off the road but for upwards of $80 million that tax payers will have to help offset.

With the mining operation slated to last 16 years that makes for an expensive proposition for tax payers. Meanwhile the line between Victoria and Nanaimo, which tax payers would utilize, continues to rot away.

[G-Man]

The line to Port was actually profitable and one can assume that other trains would use it. I actually thought it was still active now. 

[Bingo]

The line to Port was actually profitable and one can assume that other trains would use it. I actually thought it was still active now. 

 

That stretch of track along the east side of Cameron Lake is probably the most scenic on the Island. Freight over that subdivision could make it profitable, especially if you could attract the cruise ships down the Alberni Canal. There is already a unique excursion running up to the historic McLean Mill during the tourist season.

 

http://www.alberniheritage.com/

 

These photos were taken in 2008 of the steam locomotive at the station, and of a crew working on a section of track.

 

 

[tedward]

My family and I took the McLean Mill excursion last summer and had a great time. Well worth it even for a family of five.

[amor de cosmos]

The Island Corridor Foundation's days may be numbered.

The Regional District of Nanaimo's board of directors will receive a notice of motion tonight suggesting the "RDN board has lost confidence in the existing administrative function of the ICF" and a "task force of experienced individuals" should be formed to "assist in reinvigorating the ICF."

Parksville's representative to the RDN, Coun. Marc Lefebvre, confirmed Monday he will put the notice of motion forward tonight at the board's regular meeting.

"We (Parksville city council) have never agreed with the fact it's going to take $20 million to get that (rail) line up and running — it's going to be much more than that," Lefebvre told The NEWS on Monday. "I guess what we are saying is let's look at this thing realistically. If it's $120 million that's needed, is that money available from senior levels of government?"

The ICF is owned by five regional districts and five First Nations on the Island. Representatives of the regional districts — plus most of the Island's towns, cities and villages — will be together for the annual convention of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention in Qualicum Beach and Parksville April 11-13.

http://www.bclocalne.../252266331.html

[Mike K.]

Didn't we call this quite a while back? All of those "major progress coming soon" announcements were starting to pile up.

[amor de cosmos]

seems kind of obvious to me

The three possible sites are:

• Mary Street — A temporary site could be found on one of several smaller lots owned by the Island Corridor Foundation south of Esquimalt Road between Mary and Catherine streets.

Estimated walking time to the intersection of Johnson Street and Wharf Street, on the other side of the bridge, is 20 to 25 minutes.

• Roundhouse — Bounded by Esquimalt Road, Sitkum Road, Saghalie Road, Kimta Road and Catherine Street, the site is owned by Focus Equities.

Preliminary discussions with the owner suggest that if a station were to be located here, the owner would prefer it to be in the northwest corner.

There are existing connections to transit on Esquimalt Road. Estimated walking time to Johnson and Wharf streets is 15 to 20 minutes.

• Johnson Street Bridge west green space (site of the former S-curve) — The train could stop at the west side of the intersection of Esquimalt and Harbour roads, where the tracks currently end, or the tracks could be extended toward the harbour. Walking time to Johnson and Wharf streets is five to seven minutes.

The staff report says locating a terminal closer to downtown “strengthens the connection to the business centre and better services commuter and tourist-related passengers.”

Isitt noted that the city plans to open much of what is to be the new western approach to the new bridge on Wednesday. That will give motorists a first-hand look at the amount of surplus land that will be available once the new bridge opens.

http://www.timescolo...minal-1.1414664

[dasmo]

Closer the better. Just before the bridge is the best option to make it appealing. Who is going to want to take the train and then a bus?