How did rail service get so costly?
Re: 鈥淐adillac commuter rail isn鈥檛 needed, says lead advocate,鈥� April 30.
The report by the provincial government on potential costs to reinstate rail service on 91原创 Island has heads spinning, and steam coming from a lot of ears.
It leaves me wondering how the estimated cost to reinstate the E&N line has gone from around $30 million back in 2011, when service was suspended, to estimates as high as $729聽million in 2020.
That is a 24-fold increase in nine years. Something seems amiss.
The estimate includes $60 million for a 鈥渕aintenance facility鈥� for the new trains. By comparison, both phases of Royal Bay Secondary School cost $60 million total for capacity of 1,500 students.
A hundred years ago, Victoria had a street-car system with 10 lines and dozens of kilometres of tracks in its heyday, serving Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich and Oak Bay, financed with a much smaller tax base, so surely, with some frugality, we can rebuild one 16-kilometre line now, and expand later.
Even in rural parts of France and Germany, villages and small cities have rail service. How can these towns and small cities do it when a region like Greater Victoria, with 400,000 residents, cannot?
Before we surrender the E&N right of way to bikes and walkers, let鈥檚 also explore new technologies such as trackless trains that stop at stations like a train, but run on GPS and laser guided paved corridors.
Bring us a new train without steel rails. Perhaps hydrogen-fuel-cell operated, meaning clean energy without expensive infrastructure.
Add ride-hailing services at stations, and self-check rental cars, and you have a service that looks nothing like the old dayliner rustbuckets of yore, and would win thousands of new fans.
Murray Gudmundson
Victoria
Find creative ways to聽use rail line
Re: 鈥淣ew Island railway touted as a way to boost economy,鈥� May 3.
I have been following the recent articles on the cost to reestablish the E&N railway. When our children were young, I wanted them to experience riding on a train before the service discontinued.
We took the train from Courtenay to Victoria and then backpacked around the city. A wonderful memory.
Would it make sense to create a walking, riding trail between Courtenay and Nanaimo?
If this was user pay, it could be divided into two lanes. In summer, one lane for walking, roller skating, skateboarding, and wheelchairs. The other lane for dirt bikes and motorized scooters.
In winter, the walking lane could be used for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and the motorized lane for snowmobiles.
Funds for this could be used to maintain the trail and perhaps even contribute to the costs of revamping the remainder of the tracks.
Rails removed from Courtenay to Nanaimo could be sold for scrap metal and rails in good shape could be relaid on the rest of the line. Rail ties in decent shape could be recycled to repairing the track from Nanaimo south. Trail maps could be advertised online.
Another diverse adventure to entice tourists to our beautiful island.
I am sure there are many creative minds who could find similar ways to reuse portions of this rail line to benefit our communities and reduce the costs of reestablishing portions of this railway for commercial use.
Valerie Stirling
Campbell River
Support journalism and 鈥榬ead local鈥�
Re: 鈥淗ow your newspaper is adapting and delivering in difficult times,鈥� Dave Obee, May 2.
It is encouraging to see Dave Obee and his dedicated team keep the Times 91原创 going in this uncertain and challenging period.
Through the dissemination of news and information that is relevant and important to the local population, and its laudable efforts in helping support those in need through initiatives like the Rapid Relief Fund, the newspaper has really stepped up.
It is providing an essential service聽and there should be absolutely聽no shame in doing what it needs to do to keep its team employed in order to continue to serve its readership.
Let鈥檚 do what we can to support the聽Times 91原创 and 鈥渞ead local.鈥�
Alex Rueben
Sidney
Send us your letters
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鈥� Mail: Letters to the editor, Times 91原创, 2621聽Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2.
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