2609 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Ok then. So we can reasonably conclude that the Rail Trail running through Esquimalt and into View Royal will be at the mercy of the Songhees nation. I don't think the nation has any other land west of the Esquimalt/View Royal border? At least that's it for the Rail Trail span.

The rail trail currently does not go through the reserve.

[dasmo]

The E&N does I believe. But that section got finished with the support of the Songhees if I remember right. I doubt the recreational trails that are built are in jeopardy personally. They benefit everyone. If I was the band and ownership reverted I would just charge rent or lease it. That’s the most likely outcome for those sections IMO.

[Victoria Watcher]

The E&N does I believe. But that section got finished with the support of the Songhees if I remember right. I doubt the recreational trails that are built are in jeopardy personally. They benefit everyone. If I was the band and ownership reverted I would just charge rent or lease it. That’s the most likely outcome for those sections IMO.

 

They did not want it on reserve.  So it diverts to the (non-reserve) roads at the reserve.

 

https://www.crd.bc.c...vrsn=45ed05ca_4

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 June 2022 - 05:07 AM.

[Mike K.]

Aha! Ok that’s good, they foresaw this scenario.

[Victoria Watcher]

2016:

 

 

 

For Andy Thomas, provincial funding for a section of the E&N Rail Trail that skirts the heart of the Esquimalt Nation is good news.

 

But while the Esquimalt chief was supportive of the cycling infrastructure, he said the rail line itself — devoid of trains for five years — is posing an obstacle to development.

 

“I’ve always said just tear up the tracks and give us our land back,” he said. “It cuts our reserve in three pieces with the railway and Admirals Road, you know. It makes our land harder to be able to develop.”

 

Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced Wednesday that seven Vancouver Island projects would share $2.7 million in Bike B.C. grants. About $900,000 will go toward Victoria’s two-way protected bicycle facility on Pandora Avenue and $450,000 will go toward Saanich’s Lansdowne bike lanes.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ef-says-4638944

 

 

 

Instead of cutting through the heart of the Esquimalt First Nation, the trail diverts up to Admirals Road — a request the community made in 2010.

 

“Our community didn’t want anything to do with it, they said we’re not going to have any privacy, so it’s about trying to find that balance,” Thomas said.

 

That balance has been found, he said. But the tracks remain a problem.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 June 2022 - 05:51 AM.

[splashflash]

And more recently: https://www.timescol...nations-4687341

 

North of the Esquimalt reservation, and abutting the west side of the E&N, is land being purchased by the Province to append to it.  The trail already exist in

the section of railway.

 

 

Attached Images

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[Victoria Watcher]

Now, some 20 years later, the Island Corridor Foundation has done that, with its Vancouver Island Rail Initial Business Case. And the $431 million it is seeking is modest compared with the reported $1 billion-plus the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has estimated to “fix” just the Malahat.

 

The province, with federal government partnership, must get on board with the ICF plan. For the very same issues, identified in 2002, are becoming worse.

 

There are more traffic delays and closures, many of which are caused by increasingly severe weather like last November’s torrential rains. The Island’s population is expected to reach nearly one million by 2038, according to B.C. Population Estimates and Projections, so how is the resulting transportation demand going to be handled?

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-island-5505307

 

 

 

Currently, 24,600 vehicles and 30,000 people travel over the Malahat each day.

 

https://www.vtpi.org/malahat.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

So spend $1 billion for the 30,000 people in vehicles each day, or $431 million to take 200 people over every day in a train?

[dasmo]

Didn’t they just finish fixing the Malahat?

[FogPub]

Didn’t they just finish fixing the Malahat?

Patching it up, yes; but not fixing it the way it needs fixing i.e. make it a 4-lane limited access freeway from Tillicum Rd. to Nanaimo.

 

Also, to make the railway work the way the editorial writer wants it to (multiple passenger trains up and down each day plus freight) would require double-tracking the whole thing, or a very great majority of it, so these trains could pass each other without having to wait in a siding - has that been factored into any cost analyzing?

Edited by FogPub, 23 June 2022 - 09:01 PM.

[On the Level]

Also, to make the railway work the way the editorial writer wants it to (multiple passenger trains up and down each day plus freight) would require double-tracking the whole thing, or a very great majority of it, so these trains could pass each other without having to wait in a siding - has that been factored into any cost analyzing?

 

That is not true.  If the rail gets so popular that it has so many trains that they need to continuously run in parallel then great.  Otherwise you just use side tracks like the ones in Langford to coordinate stops and other traffic.