The time is now to bring back rail, as Langford Mayor Stew Young has correctly pointed out.
The recent release of Statistics Canada census data confirms what Vancouver Islanders already knew: that our population continues to grow at an amazing rate.
As more people are working remotely due to COVID, people are moving from larger cities to the Island, growing our population even further.
At the same time people are moving from southern to central Vancouver Island in response to rising housing costs, even at the added expense and stress of traveling over the Malahat. A trend that may offset the lower demand on the roads from more people working remotely.
But the increasing population and these shifts are putting enormous pressure on our existing transportation infrastructure as well as on our environment. We cannot afford to bulldoze over more of our Island with highways.
To its credit, B.C. Transit has promised bus improvements like queue-jumper lanes. While welcome, they are woefully inadequate by themselves to meet present, let alone future needs. That is because buses lack rail’s capacity, reliability, and its curb appeal to motorists.
Moreover, even with B.C. Transit’s planned investments between Victoria and Langford, the buses slow down and come to a full stop during Malahat closures due to accidents, construction, or extreme weather events.
But the Island rail line is there as an alternative. And buses, when integrated with rail, are proven to draw riders by providing essential local access. The same applies to active transportation like bicycles and e-bikes because trains can easily accommodate them on board with their riders.
Moreover, the Island rail line can connect with B.C. Ferries, the planned Nanaimo-Vancouver passenger-only ferry, and with flights at Nanaimo Airport.
Equally critically, rail stations can become community hubs, a concept known as transit-oriented development, or TOD, where all transportation modes, including private vehicles, connect with each other. These are designed to attract and accommodate residential and commercial buildings that will be conveniently accessible by transit, including rail.
The Island rail line can provide an efficient service between Langford and Victoria with shuttle buses from Vic West to downtown destinations. A future phase could bring rail into the city centre once again, that would attract even more riders: and take more vehicles off the roads.
Between southern and central Vancouver Island is where investment in rail would truly and more immediately pay off. The growth in Langford, Colwood, and View Royal means more traffic between them and the growing central Vancouver Island regions.
A restored and revitalized Island passenger service that supports sustainability also through TOD community hubs can be provided at a cost, according to the Island Corridor Foundation, that would be a fraction of the $1 billion-plus for new or expanded highways.
Highways that further damage the environment, threaten water supplies, encourage further sprawl, which countless studies have proven, lead to more cars, not less.
This train service would include tourist excursion trains and also expanded freight rail that would remove heavy trucks off our roads. Trains can move the same amount of goods in one rail car as three trucks.
The ICF’s website has excellent information on rail. And how it integrates with trails and links communities and First Nations.
In countries like Germany and the U.K. and even in the U.S., areas like southern and central Vancouver Island have seen investment in restored and expanded rail systems. So why not here?
Our Island railway belongs to all of us on Vancouver Island. Provincial investment is required to realize the critical benefits rail will bring. The federal government will support the project, but only if the province commits the funding.
Isn’t it time for our provincial leaders to give the green light and get the trains rolling?
