{"id":33468,"date":"2019-08-12T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=33468"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:02:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:02:01","slug":"track-to-the-future-advocates-want-to-passenger-rail-back-to-the-fraser-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2019\/08\/12\/track-to-the-future-advocates-want-to-passenger-rail-back-to-the-fraser-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Track to the future: Advocates want to passenger rail back to the Fraser Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/spacingvancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/features\/indepth_feature-VAN.gif\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\"><\/p>\n<p>A century ago, interurban rail service helped Fraser Valley communities develop \u2014 and it could do the same thing today, says a group fighting to resurrect passenger trains running from Surrey to Chilliwack.<\/p>\n<p>Their vision of the future: clean, affordable light rail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a commuter line,\u201d said Rick Green, former mayor of the Township of Langley and a founding member of the group&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/southfrasercommunityrail.ca\/\">South Fraser Community Rail<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a community line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The West Coast Express is a commuter line, shuttling residents from as far as Mission to jobs in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>But the new service would provide communities south of the Fraser River, home to about 1.2 million people, with a self-contained transportation system from Surrey to Chilliwack. The group estimates 70 per cent of all trips originating in those communities stay within the region, rather than ending in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>Green said the car is king in those communities today.<\/p>\n<p>In the Township of Langley for example, 91 per cent of workers commute in vehicles, according to 2016 census data; the percentage in transit-rich Vancouver is 49 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>There are other familiar local names and advocates of sustainable growth in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/southfrasercommunityrail.ca\/contact\/\">south Fraser group<\/a>, such as former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm, Peter Holt, an engineer and former CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, and Patrick Condon, founding chair of UBC\u2019s urban design program (and occasional Tyee columnist).<\/p>\n<p>They believe that renewed interurban rail service is more ambitious than the planned SkyTrain line between Surrey and Langley, covering more ground.<\/p>\n<p>They want to introduce zero-emission hydrogen trains, inspired by the world\u2019s first which were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2018\/sep\/17\/germany-launches-worlds-first-hydrogen-powered-train\">rolled out<\/a>&nbsp;in Germany last year.<\/p>\n<p>The interurban rail corridor still exists and is used for freight.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been almost 70 years since the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada-rail.com\/bc\/railways\/BCER.html\">BC Electric Railway<\/a>&nbsp;ended passenger service, which ran from Vancouver to Chilliwack between 1910 and 1950, making up to four round-trips a day and also carrying freight and mail.<\/p>\n<p>As well as providing transportation, one of the goals of the original railway was to bring electricity to the communities along the line. Electric light and telephones only came to the Fraser Valley as the line spread through settlements, allowing them to grow into town centres and cities.<\/p>\n<p>BC Hydro owns the rail corridor and Canadian Pacific and Southern Railway have contracts to use part of it for freight operations.<\/p>\n<p>BC Hydro communications told The Tyee via email that any new operations on the corridor would require approval from BC Hydro and the railway operators. It would be \u201copen to discussing the future use of the right-of-way for transit purposes should the Province or TransLink decide to pursue this option,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<p>But TransLink called the plan to revive passenger service on the line \u201cinsufficient\u201d in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.translink.ca\/-\/media\/Documents\/about_translink\/governance_and_board\/council_minutes_and_reports\/2019\/june\/Regional-Transportation-PlanningCmt-Report--Interurban-Passenger-Rail.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3Nz6nVgQG5PcgjEMfw1lwrmmIxxiUtdMi3VeYdAUb-vnE9PjU2bg4VOr4\">report<\/a>&nbsp;last month.<\/p>\n<p>The report, prepared by TransLink\u2019s vice-president of planning and policy Geoff Cross, found that the interurban proposal isn\u2019t in sync with&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.metrovancouver.org\/services\/regional-planning\/livable-urban-centres\/about-urban-centres\/Pages\/default.aspx\">regional planning<\/a>, skipping key destinations such as Surrey Central and Langley City.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLots of the transportation we\u2019re talking about in our visioning is based on those centres, and connecting those corridors,\u201d said Mayor Jonathan Cot\u00e9 of New Westminster, who chairs TransLink\u2019s Mayors\u2019 Council.<\/p>\n<p>The rail advocacy group says the interurban line would serve other centres the SkyTrain would skip, such as Newton and Cloverdale; TransLink argues that the rail passes through a significant amount of agricultural land where population growth is limited. Cloverdale, it notes, is \u201cprojected to be one of the slowest growing urban centres in the South of Fraser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TransLink reports that interurban rail has \u201cless attractive travel times between key destinations\u201d; the group argues that the service would be better because there would be more stops.<\/p>\n<p>TransLink also notes that freight trains are already using the line. Green has said that the group is in \u201cno way trying to cut off the freight part of our economy,\u201d suggesting a second track for passenger trains could be built alongside the stretch of rail where freights operate.<\/p>\n<p>And costs of the rail line would be far lower than the planned SkyTrain expansion, says Green. The SkyTrain line cost is estimated at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/vancouversun.com\/news\/local-news\/public-consultation-underway-for-surrey-langley-skytrain-rapid-transit\">$3.5 billion<\/a>&nbsp;for 27 kilometres, which is about $130 million per kilometre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t keep spending money the way we\u2019re doing,\u201d said Green, who\u2019s worried about the possibility of SkyTrain going over budget.<\/p>\n<p>The rail group estimates their interurban proposal will cost $1.2 billion for 99 kilometres, which is about $12.5 million per kilometre.<\/p>\n<p>Despite TransLink\u2019s criticisms of the interurban proposal, it noted it would explore the potential of resurrecting old rail corridors for passenger use as part of its strategy for the next 30 years, called Transport 2050.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere could be some opportunity here,\u201d said Mayor Cot\u00e9. \u201cBut we\u2019re right in the middle of our 10-year plan, and we\u2019re pretty committed&#8230; The Transport 2050 process is the opportunity for these groups to say what are the next big projects, the next big ideas for the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Green called TransLink\u2019s consideration \u201clip service\u201d and said the conversation about large-scale transit investment in the South Fraser region can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Highway 1 is clogged, the Fraser Valley is clogged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Green and the group are continuing to lobby community groups, municipalities and business associations to win support for the idea.<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/\">Christopher Cheung<\/a>&nbsp;is a reporter at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/\">The Tyee<\/a>, where this story originally appeared.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A century ago, interurban rail service helped Fraser Valley communities develop \u2014 and it could do the same thing today, says a group fighting to resurrect passenger trains running from Surrey to Chilliwack. Their vision of the future: clean, affordable light rail. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a commuter line,\u201d said Rick Green, former mayor of<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2019\/08\/12\/track-to-the-future-advocates-want-to-passenger-rail-back-to-the-fraser-valley\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Track to the future: Advocates want to passenger rail back to the Fraser Valley&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8385,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11232,25,39,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-infrastructure","category-traffic","category-transit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Track to the future: Advocates want to passenger rail back to the Fraser Valley - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2019\/08\/12\/track-to-the-future-advocates-want-to-passenger-rail-back-to-the-fraser-valley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Track to the future: Advocates want to passenger rail back to the Fraser Valley - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A century ago, interurban rail service helped Fraser Valley communities develop \u2014 and it could do the same thing today, says a group fighting to resurrect passenger trains running from Surrey to Chilliwack. 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