1261 replies to this topic

[DavidSchell]

This is nice, but what would be nice is to see a real commitment for light rail in the CRD with a connection station where the E&N will terminate.

 

One only has to look at all the rental/condo development going on and know the population here is growing quickly.

 

is there any site that is focused on light rail and some sort of group that is trying to move it forward? I would be willing to donate time to the cause.

[Bingo]

Once they gett'er up and running they will be needing engineers.

 

VicHockeyFan

Super Moderator

 

Posted 20 July 2015 - 10:32 AM

I used to drive the Dayliner (circa 1988), after I had been given a 15-minute lesson.

 

 

[Nparker]

http://globalnews.ca...ay-chugs-along/

 

 

 

If the project proceeds, the E&N rail line would offer twice-daily runs from Nanaimo to Victoria, service to Qualicum Beach on Wednesdays and weekends, and service to Courtenay on weekends and statutory holidays.

[Mr_E_Squirrel]

Bridge to Vancouver will happen before this....

[Mike K.]

Oh perfect. Conditional schedules.

[57WestHills]

Oh perfect. Conditional schedules.

What do you mean by this?

[Mike K.]

Wednesday this, weekend that.

[Bingo]

Does anyone have any information on the purpose of this new 300 foot siding on the E&N line just north of the west end of Hallowell Road?

 

[57WestHills]

I don't think it's new, I think it was pulled up and replaced for the trail project? But I am also not certain.

[VicHockeyFan]

I don't think it's new, I think it was pulled up and replaced for the trail project? But I am also not certain.

 

I think this is correct.

[Bingo]

 Langford Mayor Stew Young is demanding the Island Corridor Foundation open its financial books after his municipality was hit with a $50,000 fee from the foundation.

“Our bylaw says that you can give a permissive tax exemption if there’s a benefit to the people.

But there actually hasn’t been a benefit to the people for the last four years, because there hasn’t been a train running,” said Young,

 

All other municipalities along the corridor have granted the ICF a permissive tax exemption, said CEO Graham Bruce.

If they don’t, he said, “we’ve got to ensure the integrity of that property is being maintained and it can’t go up for tax sale purposes.

“So to make sure that doesn’t happen, we charge a land-use fee. If there’s a property-tax exemption in place, then there’s no land-use fee.”

The foundation charged the $50,000 fee because Langford wants to build a two-way bike path about 225 metres long on the lower side of Atkins Road to provide a connection to future E&N Rail Trail improvements and the Galloping Goose trail.

About half the proposed bike trail is in the ICF right of way.

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.JcWIcYw0.dpuf

 

[VicHockeyFan]

I know, broken record here, but this train will never run again.

 

Bruce would not speculate on when passenger rail service would return to the line. ICF was waiting for final sign-off from Infrastructure Canada for $7.5 million in promised funding to upgrade the line when the Nanoose First Nation filed a civil claim seeking a 10.8-acre parcel of land that the E&N rail line runs through.

 

“That, of course, put the red flag on the infrastructure application. We’re hoping to find a way to resolve it,” Bruce said.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...0.KCwOoxM6.dpuf

[Mike K.]

What it all boils down to is the ICF is working to further the interests of private freight rail operators. The passenger service will be a spin-off but it's not the priority. Publicly funded rail and infrastructure upgrades are the motivator here in order to allow private operators to extract value out of a resource they didn't have to pay for.

 

And don't worry, VHF, you're not a broken record, but the ICF sure does sound like one.

[VicHockeyFan]

What it all boils down to is the ICF is working to further the interests of private freight rail operators. The passenger service will be a spin-off but it's not the priority. Publicly funded rail and infrastructure upgrades are the motivator here in order to allow private operators to extract value out of a resource they didn't have to pay for.

 

And don't worry, VHF, you're not a broken record, but the ICF sure does sound like one.

 

The ICF makes great money for the board and their organization, considering they have no trains running, they still get some nice revenue, to pay to their staffers.

 

$700K in revenue.

 

Salaries 196,000

Administration 60,000

Board Expenses 15,000

Travel 10,000

 

 

http://www.islandrai...Budget-2015.pdf

 

Not bad eh?  No actual trains, but $270k a year in salaries. 

[Mike K.]

They make handsome monies from their right-of-way, for sure. Telus is a big part of that.

 

Now they want $50k from Langford for a public trail to go along a line that is going nowhere without the public's financial support?

 

Stew Young is right to demand they open their books. This whole escapade has gone on too long and is starting to look like a carrot-and-stick routine.

[nagel]

Yeah they're not making any friends holding up upgrades to a popular trail.

[insanelydeadlydisease]

Would the train even be allowed to run? I mean you can't use that right of way through the reserve right?

[VicHockeyFan]

Would the train even be allowed to run? I mean you can't use that right of way through the reserve right?

 

I think it's only the new trail that's blocked through the reserve.  If you mean in Esquimalt.  Not sure what the Nanoose band is up to.

[tedward]

I know, broken record here, but this train will never run again.

 

I can do that too. The train has to run again eventually. There is simply no more efficient way to move passengers and goods up and down the island in the long term.

[lanforod]

I can do that too. The train has to run again eventually. There is simply no more efficient way to move passengers and goods up and down the island in the long term.

 

Eventually here probably means in my grand-kids time, and by then, there may well be a more efficient way (hyperloop??)

Edited by lanforod, 12 February 2016 - 10:29 AM.