Bob Anderson’s letter (Pique, Feb. 14, “Traffic solutions ‘hiding in plain sight’”) and a recent report to Lillooet council both support reinstatement of B.C.’s provincial railroad passenger service. We agree 100 per cent that this route and mode of transportation is of import to all travelling to Whistler, Pemberton and beyond. Options for safe and sensible travel are certainly in the minds of many throughout British Columbia.
Once upon a time, the public was able to travel with daily return between North Vancouver and Lillooet, including several times weekly further on up to and from Prince George, stopping for passengers all along the way. That sadly ended in October 2003. Gordon Campbell “sold out” BC Rail’s operations to (U.S.-owned) CN and afforded the boast that his government had “no fiscal deficit.” The province and its tax-paying residents lost out big time as BC Rail “went south.” That was then, and now that deal remains an utter travesty.
As a result, residents and their relations, with lives and livelihoods up and down the line in Interior communities, suffered a real loss of vital connections with each other and the province as a whole. Access to important facilities in the Lower Mainland became more problematic when BC Rail’s passenger service ceased.
Since then the Rocky Mountaineer has continued to use the railroad. Their clientele can afford the pleasurable scenic, wining and dining trip. Great Railway Journeys, on the Knowledge Network, shows trains all around the world these days accommodating locals and tourists alike. Why here for only a select few and not for all? The taxpaying residents find it a hard pill to swallow being passed by, with a mere “toot” from the engineer, while frequently viewing the rail going rusty! The necessary infrastructure is still existing in plain sight for reliable public transportation. Economic development needs to be inclusive of more of B.C.’s Interior communities and our government needs to move forward onto the platform.
Highway 99 now is both congested and dangerous. Neither a plethora of cars nor a train of buses are the solution in all respects. Tourists and residents alike deserve and need an enviro-friendly, safe, viable, alternative public transportation route provided upon this railroad line. It is there and undeniably needs proper commitment. We all need to add our voices requesting the government and B.C.’s Transportation Ministry to move with providing the necessary rail service into and out of both the hinterlands and the Big Smoke. All aboard!
