VICTORIA, British Columbia — A group of 13 area mayors have appealed to British Columbia’s premier, seeking funding to restore rail service on the former Esquimalt & Nanaimo line on Vancouver Island.
“The E&N — along with the addition of rapid bus lanes on Highway 1 — will provide significant environmental benefits including a reduction in [greenhouse gases] and will relieve regional gridlock,” the 13 mayors say in letters to Premier John Horgan and Transportation Minister Claire Trevena, the Times-Colonist newspaper reports.
“We call on you to commit to both in this February’s budget,” the letters say. “This region needs your leadership and we are here as mayors to support you and stand with you as you make these important investments in our region.”
David Screech, mayor of View Royal, B.C., told the newspaper it was the first time he could recall all 13 mayors signing onto such a letter, “and I hope the province interprets that as how seriously we mean this.”
Passenger service ended in 2011 — officially, it is suspended — because of concerns over conditions of the right-of-way, and because the once-a-day RDC service was unprofitable. The route is now owned by the Island Corridor Foundation, a partnership between First Nations and local governments along the route.
