“Organizing Affordable Housing and Mobility around the Interurban Rail Line”

This is the latest edition of our regular South Fraser Community Rail Newsletter. Please subscribe to stay in the loop of the latest updates! 

We are entering a NEW world post COVID-19, both our economy and our environment. As important and impactful as CleanBC (the Provincial Government’s signature environmental legislation) was prior to our new normal, today it is essential to a long-term prosperous future.

How does the reactivation of the Interurban fit into the equation?

In a coordinated effort to obtain an objective look at the merits or lack thereof, to reactivate the Interurban Rail Line for Passenger Service, the South Fraser Community Rail Society solicited the service of Professor Patrick M. Condon – James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable Environments at the University of British Columbia.

Patrick Condon utilized the services of a variety of local experts with a working knowledge of the Interurban Rail Line (est. circa 1910) with the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Master of Urban Design Program, Class of 2019.

In short, the cities and towns South of the Fraser are growing at a fast pace – 7.5% in five years – compared to Vancouver’s modest 4.8%. At the current pace, the population south of the Fraser will double by 2060 to over 2.5 million people.

Much of this growth is fueled by families fleeing the City of Vancouver in search of affordable homes within which to raise families. Employers are following, happy to hire them and in search of affordable land with good transportation access.

But there is a problem. The first 1.2 million people to populate the valley have bought into an auto-dominated urban landscape, bringing with it a daily gridlocked highway #1, and an exhaust polluted, and therefore toxic and unhealthy, Fraser Valley airshed.

The Fraser Valley has no other options besides highway #1 – with one big exception, that of a readily available operating rail line that is available to our population at no cost. This PRICELESS TRANSIT OPPORTUNITY has, so far, been ignored by our political decision makers.

Coupled with this opportunity is the emergence of proven Canadian Hydrogen Technology, European developed (and now operating) state-of-the-art Hydrail Passenger Rail Service.

As a result of Patrick Condon’s and his students’ energetic and comprehensive study, a book has been released, which reviews this rail line, it’s community relationship, and connection to the City of Surrey, City of Langley, The Township of Langley and the City of Abbotsford.

The 17 Masters students were tasked with adding 500,000 dwelling units within a ten-minute walk of this rail line, and to add an equivalent number of job sites. They were asked to provide a variety of home types to support housing affordability for different family types. They were asked to create urban amenities and to protect and connect natural systems. And they were asked to do this largely within the existing urban footprint of these communities, protecting and enhancing existing productive Agricultural lands.

The results are exciting. Vibrant urban places rise out of mall-parking lots. New transit ways connect to the Interurban Line to feed and distribute a new transit using population. But to make this happen we must lay the spine for this transformed region today.

Infrastructure always leads urban development, it cannot adequately follow. Later is too late. Our region that grew first around the rail, and later around the car, can grow sustainably around rail again.

It is crucial that we initiate this urban development process by reviving the Interurban Rail Line now, which will dramatically improve availability of affordable housing.

Recap of the Benefits of the South of Fraser Community Rail Passenger Project:

• NEW South of Fraser Reality In 2002 70% of trips starting South of the Fraser ended North of the River, today 70% of trips start and stop South of the Fraser – Surrey Center is our downtown.
   
• Cost Effective
  
  • A Passenger Rail Line using the existing Inter-urban Corridor represents less than 10% of the cost per Km of the Surrey to Langley SkyTrain proposal, while serving 10 times the population.
     
  • The entire 99 Km state-of-the-art South Fraser Hydrogen Community Rail passenger service connecting industrial parks, 14 Post Secondary Institutions and the Abbotsford International Airport could be fully operational for the same cost as 7 Kms of Surrey to Fleetwood SkyTrain
     
  • 99.23 kms from Scott Road to Chilliwack that is FREE for the Province to use for passenger service. Unlike the Westcoast Express (North of the Fraser) that costs taxpayers in excess of $20,000,000 per year in leased time
     
• Protecting the Environment
   
  • Eliminates need to clear cut some of Green Timbers Urban Forest Surrey
     
  • 1 Train removes ~177 cars on Hwy #1 from the Fraser Valley Airshed
     
  • NEW Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology advances the B.C. Government’s CleanBC signature legislation
     
• Economic Growth
   
  • Directly BOOSTS economic growth through the low-cost movement of residents and goods South of the Fraser
     
  • Direct access to the Abbotsford International Airport for passenger and employment access up and down the valley
     
  • Direct access to jobs throughout the Fraser Valley currently with no or very limited transportation options.
     
• Ease of Movement
   
  • Would support and form an integral part of a coordinated and comprehensive transportation network for 1.2 million South of Fraser residents and/or a combined close to 3 million residents to be able to move between North and West Vancouver, Vancouver out to Chilliwack using Seabus, Skytrain and Light Rail
     
  • Connects 16 Cities, Municipality Population Centers Communities, plus Indust. Parks, International Airport and Special Interest venues that Surrey Center to Langley City SkyTrain does not
     
• Promoting Fraser Valley Tourism
   
  • Open up the Fraser Valley and it’s attractions (Wineries / theme parks / Game Farm) to Tourism with access from Vancouver to Chilliwack
     
  • Open up transportation access to a growing Agri-Tourism business and industry throughout the Fraser Valley
     
• Access to Post Secondary Education
  • Connecting Fourteen University Campuses and 58,000 Students and Staff daily South of the Fraser between Surrey and Chilliwack!

South Fraser Community Rail Society

Contact Rick Green / 604 866-5752 
southfrasercommunityrail@shaw.ca

Order a physical copy of this unique publication today “Reviving Community Rail for a Sustainable Fraser Valley” by sending us an email. Cost is $45.00 CDN, which covers the costs of production from Lulu.com.

Or download a .pdf of the book for free.

IMPORTANT – Please FORWARD this newsletter to your friends relatives & neighbors!

This is the latest edition of our regular South Fraser Community Rail Newsletter. Please subscribe to stay in the loop of the latest updates! 

TransLink’s wrong-headed Fraser Highway to Langley SkyTrain debacle is starting to be seen for what it is…. WRONG! Know the FACTS… This cannot be allowed to continue.

TransLink and the Mayors’ Councils handling of the LRT/SkyTrain issue has been a sham from the start, long before the emergence of COVID-19.

This Newsletter should remind all decision makers and the public as to why we are in the position we are in, wasting an immeasurable amount of your tax dollars and time, with nothing to show for it.

All of the time and money wasted has been to satisfy the wishes of a NEW Mayor who won with 13% of the popular vote! If common sense prevailed, your well-planned LRT line would be well under construction today.

Consider the following series of events that got us to where we are today instead:

FACT:     Through a comprehensive community-involved plan over about ten years, Surrey secured approval and funding (Federal, Provincial and Regional) for light rail, LRT from Guildford down 104th to Surrey Center, down King George Blvd to Newton. Proposed in 2012, with construction to to begin in 2019.

FACT:     The original 10.5 KM LRT line was supported as a mode for internal transit for Surrey, designed to build and support communities within Surrey, with an approved senior and regional government funding envelope of $1.65 Billion. This LRT line was Phase 1 of the ten-year plan.

FACT:     $50 million dollars (regional tax dollars!) were spent in engineering funding for this LRT project through TransLink.

FACT:     The 2018 Municipal election campaign was won by the Safe Surrey Coalition and new Mayor Doug McCallum.
His two major promises:
1) Establish new Surrey Municipal Police Force at the same cost as the RCMP
2) Change the approved and funded LRT project to a Skyrain extension from Surrey Center to Langley City, at same cost of $1.65 Billion, and not a penny more!

FACT:     The first TransLink Meeting after the election with majority of NEWLY elected Mayors, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and Mayor Kennedy Stewart of Vancouver supported each other in a pre-arranged weighted vote, blindsiding the Mayors around the table, most unaware of what was happening. Vote passed for Vancouver Subway to Arbutus, and support for the suspension of the Surrey to Langley LRT, moving forward to instead develop a draft SkyTrain business plan.

FACT:      IMPORTANT – The Mayors Council, at the urging of TransLink Senior Staff and Mayor McCallum, changed support from LRT to SkyTrain based on Mayor McCallum’s well publicized (during the election campaign and to the Mayors’ Council) assurance that they could do it for the same $1.65 Billion and not one penny more. In reality, the cost will be $3.5 – $4 Billion. Due to this fact, the project should NEVER have been approved in the first place nor allowed to proceed today. The promise was not kept. Mayor McCallum’s mis-represented project can only possibly proceed at OUR expense.

FACT:     IMPORTANT – Mayors’ Council changed support from LRT to SkyTrain based on Mayor McCallum’s assurance Surrey would repay TransLink the entire $50 million spent on LRT preliminary engineering, who then goes outside the meeting and says he is not going to pay. It has now been “agreed” that Surrey will provide $30 Million in property plus $9 million in cash?

FACT:     The change from LRT to SkyTrain initially was justified in that the Surrey to Langley City SkyTrain fulfilled Phase 2 of TransLink’s 10-year plan; so in their pronouncement, this was just a matter of switching phases. Unfortunately, there were four problems with that position:

1. There was a significant cost difference between the LRT (planned in the financials) and a SkyTrain project (not planned in the financials). The difference? LRT $157,142,857 per km vs SkyTrain $225,000,000 per km. TransLink knew this info from the outset.
    
2. TransLink’s decision to go with SkyTrain for Phase 2 was decided through a non-public, flawed internal study that looked at one corridor option only. The valuable Interurban corridor was never considered despite its identified value and connection to a far greater population, inter-regional connectivity that was identified and protected by a Provincial Government for passenger use at no cost for its use at a fraction of the cost!
    
3. TransLink’s plan for SkyTrain did not consider the negative impact on Green Timbers Urban Forest, or the cost of going through 7 kms with no population (Green Timbers and the Serpentine Flats). Further, they did not consider the high construction cost to build through the Serpentine Flood Plain soil conditions.
    
4. Surrey (Fleetwood & Clayton), Langley City and the Township of Langley have not appropriately planned for, nor have they adequately informed their residents on how much additional density will be required to justify the high cost of SkyTrain down Fraser Highway to Langley City, should it happen.

To give residents an idea of how much density will be required, we offer the following visual from Port Moody’s plan surrounding their Evergreen Line. COVID-19 has changed the game entirely, both in cost and density:

2,800 homes are being proposed next to Port Moody’s SkyTrain’s Inlet Centre Station. A massive redevelopment will completely transform an existing 13-acre, low-density neighborhood immediately adjacent to SkyTrain’s Inlet Centre Station.

According to a city staff report, the developer’s intention for Coronation Park, the tentative name of the project, is to build six towers between 32 and 36 stories, each with a six-story podium and five six-story buildings. If you want to see the reality, check out what has happened to the Brentwood area development in Burnaby. Are you prepared for this for your community?

In Summary

It is long past time that the TransLink Board of Directors Rethink and review their decisions and planning related to SkyTrain, LRT and the Interurban South of the Fraser. The decisions to proceed with SkyTrain are wrong on every count, and are totally disingenuous.

Yes, COVID-19 has triggered some reconsideration, however, are our decision makers going to lead or are they going be led by TransLink staff or some internal biases by a few TransLink Board members (more on this at a later date)?

It is time for some real leadership by the TransLink Board and the TransLink Mayors’ Council, and an intervention by the Provincial Government if necessary.

A review of the staff reports on the Fraser Highway SkyTrain project to the Mayors’ Council from Geoff Cross (Vice-President) and comments attributed to Kevin Desmond (CEO) put a great deal into question. 

Despite our four points listed above, CEO Kevin Desmond comments “Whether ridership levels will recover is a million dollar question” and yet Geoff Cross states “TransLink still believes the project makes business sense and hopes to put forward an investment plan in the fall.” (Quotes from local published media.)

Really, in whose imagination?

To CEO Desmond: this is not a million-dollar question, THIS IS A MULTI BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION! Obviously, there are conflicting statements being made by senior TransLink executives.

“There’s an active discussion right now around North America asking – Is this the death knell of public transit?” said Councillor Craig Cameron of West Vancouver. “I don’t think it is, but…. Do we believe the new normal that we get to, is going to be significantly lower than Pre-COVID peak? Are we going to have to do transit differently?” … “it would take some time to evaluate the level of ridership that is realistic in the months ahead” said Desmond.

In a number of comments, TransLink staff are continuing to base their plans on a boost in senior government funding, which is not even close to be being realistic, especially in light of our NEW normal.

Continuation of this debacle will cost all of us responsible transit
improvements for our immediate communities.

This debacle is the result of TransLink capitulating to the wishes of the Mayor of Surrey who was demanding his election promises be kept – Well they could never be kept, they were irresponsible and disingenuous, and yet our TransLink Mayors’ Council and Board supported him anyway! Why?

• SkyTrain in place of LRT at the same cost – $1.65 Billion and not one penny more! Actual Cost: $3.5 – $4 Billion. Promise not kept, should be denied.
   
• Surrey Municipal Police Force in place of RCMP at the same cost! Another promise not kept, should be denied.
  

Time to Rethink

It is not too late to go with the original LRT project. Surrey would not have to pay back the $50 million already spent by TransLink!

Throughout all of this discussion, our transit provider, TransLink, is still not facing the reality that they are promoting an outdated, highly overpriced, unaffordable, and poorly performing technology at a great cost to us taxpayers.

We urge the Provincial Government to implement the “South of Fraser Transportation and Housing Study” already promised through this year’s Throne Speech and Budget Announcement before ANY decisions are made on South Fraser Regional Transit or Inter-Regional Transit.

South Fraser Community Rail Society
Contact Rick Green / 604 866-5752 
southfrasercommunityrail@shaw.ca

This is the latest edition of our bi-monthly South Fraser Community Rail Newsletter. Please subscribe to stay in the loop of the latest updates! 

The recently announced purchase of Bombardier by the Alstom Group plus COVID-19 is a game-changer for TransLink’s SkyTrain plans that are yet to receive senior government final approval for the Fraser Highway proposal to Fleetwood, let alone Langley City.

We urge the Federal and B.C. Provincial Government, TransLink Mayor’s Council and the TransLink Board of Directors to hit PAUSE on any plans to proceed until ALL facts on the Alstom purchase are known and our future transit needs under a NEW normal are understood!

Alstom Purchase of Bombardier

FACT:    SkyTrain is Bombardier’s sole surviving system for new system purchases!

FACT:    Alstom will be dropping all marginal product lines once the sale has been approved by the regulatory bodies due to cost of supporting same and competitive pressures for critical lines of business!

FACT:    TransLink must make technology decisions which will determine how much cash will be pumped from your wallet due to EXPO/Millennium line rebuilds and the proposed King George-Fleetwood let alone Langley expansion!

FACT:    It is imperative the provincial government and TransLink hit the “PAUSE” button on the proposed Fraser Highway extension until the sale has completed mid-2021 and the consequences of going forward are known and the alternative option is carefully considered!

COVID-19 Impacts

Fact:      SkyTrain Expo and Millennium Lines are running at 18% of normal, Canada Line is running at 14% of normal, SeaBus is running at 10%, West Coast Express is running at 6% while buses are running at roughly 15% of normal.

Fact:      60% of TransLink revenues that depend on farebox, gas tax and parking revenue have collapsed with NO assurance on their rebounding within any reasonable timeframe.

Fact:      Significant additional spending by senior governments was and is essential, on balance they have both done a good job. With a projected Federal Deficit for 2021 of well over $250 Billion and growing plus an additional high cost to the provinces finances, a cautious use of tax dollars is required.

More details of the Alstom purchase of Bombardier, and its impact on Translink/Taxpayers:

France’s Alstom Group has reached an agreement to purchase the Bombardier Transportation Rail Division for about USD $8.2 Billion. Alstom has agreed to maintain the HQ for North American Rail operations in Montreal for at least the next 5 years as the Caisse de dépôt will be the largest external shareholder in this new entity.

How will the advent of COVID-19 affect the proposed sale/purchase? Will it be renegotiated, will it go ahead, what is the affect of Bombardier? Huge implications either way.

This agreement is subject to the EU competition regulator’s approval and this is not expected until mid 2021. Until approval has been rendered by the competition regulators, it will be business “as usual” with both parties slugging it out in the marketplace for any, and all new business contracts. It is estimated Bombardier Transportation currently has about C$35Billion in orders on the books which will migrate to the new entity on completion.

How will the advent of COVID-19 affect the proposed sale/purchase?

This sale presents ominous clouds to users such as TransLink, of the Bombardier SkyTrain product line.

Once the deal has been blessed by the regulators and formal sale takes place, Alstom Group will have to take a sober look at the various Bombardier technologies they have acquired in terms of their future viability in the marketplace. A major future slugfest is expected as Alstom, Siemens and other rolling stock suppliers sharpen their teeth on dealing with the 800-pound gorilla in the room – the state owned Chinese CRRC with annual revenues of more than $100Billion.

Products such as the LIM-powered SkyTrain product could be first on the chopping block. How long will Alstom commit to supporting this sole-source product line with ONE customer for spare parts and new manufacture, especially now with all the focus being on Hydrail (Hydrogen powered transit)?

Many countries have now mandated the use of Hydrogen to eliminate the use of diesel. Alstom happens to be the acknowledged leader in Hydrail.

In-light of recent events, TransLink will have to very-seriously-reconsider as to whether SkyTrain technology on Fraser Highway is the correct solution for deployment. 

If TransLink insists on proceeding using the SkyTrain product, they are still stuck with a sole source supplier, Alstom Group, which will have doubled in size overnight and have even less interest and motivation to be a supplier of this product. Pricing this product line properly to reflect the true cost of maintaining it as a commercially viable product will make it even more expensive than the past.

It may be time that TransLink is forced to make the bold transition to technologies and product lines which can be sourced from multiple vendors.

Yes- it will be painful, but the sooner they start, they are in a position to entrench/guarantee their supply position for spares/upgrades for old technologies (SkyTrain) as they place orders for new technology (iLint hydrail) as partial compensation for Alstom maintaining the SkyTrain supply chain.

The alternative might be a letter from Alstom Group advising of the total discontinuation of the SkyTrain product line with TransLink having either the option of a final “last buy” of rolling stock/spares or the shotgun “offer” to purchase the rights, licenses and tooling to manufacture the Skytrain product line.

Can Metro Vancouver and our taxpayers afford the cost and risk of TransLink being in the rolling stock fabrication business?

Economic Impact of COVID-19 to the Province of B.C.

We do not have to look beyond the just-announced unemployment numbers for the months of March and April in B.C.. How does close to a 400,000-job loss and an unemployment rate of over 10% look?

So, consider the following –

• What will a restart of the economy look like?
   
• What will our NEW normal in Transit look like?
   
• Who, how many and how often will the public be ready to go back to public transit without fear of contracting this deadly virus? What will the public’s trust quotient be?
   
• How many bricks and mortar businesses will reopen? How many will re-engineer their existence?
   
• How many businesses large and small will rethink how they are going to operate in the future i.e. work from home just might be looking more attractive in terms of increased productivity at a reduced cost?
   
• Transit use during this pandemic has been reduced by over 84%, how much of that will come back and/or how long will it take? Will TransLink’s current funding model sustain some form of existing transit operations for 4 months? 6 months? Or 8 months?
   
• How long will it take for gas, parking revenues and fare revenues meet the needs of our NEW transit needs?
   
• What will our new economy look like after potentially a 6 – 10-month, (or more) shutdown?
   
• We recall TransLink’s dismissal of the $50 million previously spent for the planning of the previously approved 11 KM Surrey LRT line on 104^th Ave to Surrey Center down King George Blvd to Newton. This is the time to regroup and go back to utilize those previously expended funds and the planning they were used for and move forward with that plan.
   
• We need to support fiscally responsible regional and interregional transit for the lower mainland out to Chilliwack.
   
• We need to support environmentally responsible interregional transit for the lower mainland out to Chilliwack. 
   

Conclusion

At a cost of $200 Million per KM (TransLink numbers), continued expansion of SkyTrain will bleed out all available capital financial resources PLUS the costly operational financial resources to properly expand Transit on the lower mainland, from Lions Bay to Hope. 

A 99 Km state-of-the-art South Fraser Hydrogen Community Rail passenger service (at no-cost for its use!) will serve 10 times more taxpayers/residents, industrial parks, 14 Post Secondary Institutions and the Abbotsford Intern. Airport AT THE SAME COST as 7 Km. of the Surrey Center to Fleetwood Sky-train.

Our region(s) need fiscally and economically responsible efficient transit that is environmentally friendly and CleanBC appropriate.

With very-limited financial resources available from government going forward, lets implement a system that makes sense!

South Fraser Community Rail Society
Contact Rick Green / 604 866-5752 
southfrasercommunityrail@shaw.ca

Abbotsford Today recently sat down with Former Surrey Mayor and BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm to learn more about his involvement with the South Fraser Community Rail campaign, and the history of the Interurban rail corridor.

It was Vander Zalm’s government that preserved the Interurban rail line for future passenger use by the Province of BC when they sold the freight division back in 1988.

Listen to Bill tell his story of political involvement, from shovels to HST, and why he believes passenger rail is a winner for the people and Province of British Columbia:

By Kerry Gold for the Globe and Mail

Metro Vancouver has as much of a traffic crisis as it has an affordable housing crisis, with thousands of cars backed up on major arterial roads between Vancouver and Abbotsford every day.

But TransLink, the transportation authority for Metro Vancouver, doesn’t believe that reviving passenger service on the old interurban rail line is the solution. Interurban passenger service was routine more than 100 years ago throughout North America, including a route from Vancouver to Chilliwack. Most jurisdictions sold off the lines once the car came along, but the interurban land in Metro Vancouver remains publicly owned, which has triggered proposals to revive it. A story in last week’s Globe and Mail explored that idea.

But TransLink cites the legal difficulty in negotiating with private companies that currently use the track for freight. They say the interurban does not support a more immediate plan to provide better transit to the region’s second downtown of Surrey Centre.

As well, it would be pricey to refurbish the line and because of its many stops, it would be too slow an option for commuters. Studies have been done over the years, which did not favour the idea, TransLink says, including a consultant’s south of Fraser area transit report in 2007, a provincial government report on Fraser Valley transit in 2010, and a TransLink assessment in 2012 as part of a Surrey rapid transit study.

TransLink says it will revisit the issue of interurban service as one of several options as part of its new regional transportation strategy, called Transport 2050.

“The lack of connections to population centres and the slowerthan-bus travel time are more compelling reasons why the idea has not been recommended for consideration for either rapid transit or inter-regional rail options,” TransLink’s spokesperson said in an e-mail.

Housing affordability and better transit are inextricably linked.

To that end, citizen activist groups have been arguing for the benefits of restoring passenger service on the old line that runs from Surrey through the Fraser Valley. The rail line is currently used for freight, but it is owned by BC Hydro, a Crown corporation whose private predecessor, BC Electric Railway, built the line in 1910. The line was built to link farming communities with the city, serving more than a dozen tiny communities and helping grow the Fraser Valley. It got decommissioned when cars and buses ruled the day, but now that congestion is making the region unlivable, proponents want to bring the old way of train travel back.

Some say it’s a better option than the costly SkyTrain proposal to link Surrey to Langley. There are residents in those cities who vehemently oppose the idea of an interurban service over the faster SkyTrain.

Daryl Dela Cruz, a 23-year-old student, formed a citizens’ group in support of SkyTrain instead of an interurban train from Surrey to Langley. His group mounted a petition that has about 6,000 signatures and they campaigned during the civic election to make it a central issue.

“We’re saying, ‘Hey, your [interurban] line theory might not be a bad idea, perhaps more study could be done – but it’s not a replacement for the SkyTrain,’ ” Mr. Dela Cruz says.

Others say the interurban is more inclusive of the entire Valley, which is quickly expanding and it shouldn’t be disregarded because of SkyTrain. They argue that the interurban goes through Langley Centre, as well as areas that the SkyTrain would miss, including North Delta, South Newton, Cloverdale and Abbotsford.

TransLink says that while those areas are important, its mandate is to prioritize urban centres identified in the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy. The interurban does not go through Surrey Centre and it takes a winding route to Langley Centre, TransLink says.

“We have been tasked with delivering fast, frequent and reliable rapid transit between urban centres – the interurban project does not achieve that goal.”

The pro-interurban groups say that the number of stops could easily be adjusted, and because it has its own path, the service wouldn’t be affected by car traffic.

It would therefore be faster than driving in gridlock.

TransLink responds: “The interurban is not completely separated. There are many crossings at road intersections. As per the facts in the agreement with BC Hydro, there would definitely be conflicts with freight operations.

Passenger trains would be slowed by car and freight traffic, if not completely separated.”

BC Hydro owns the land and two private freight companies own the track that sits on the land. Those companies are CP Rail and Southern Railway, which owns the vast majority of the track. Hydro has a long-standing agreement with CP Rail that allows negotiation of the track for passenger service. There is also a clause that permits CP to double track the line at its own cost. BC Hydro spokesman Geoff Hastings says it does not have such arrangements with Southern Railway, which would require negotiations.

Mr. Hastings says that BC Hydro and the private railways would have to reach an agreement before TransLink could enter into separate commercial negotiations with the companies on acquiring passenger service rights.

“Entering into these agreements also requires the co-operation and consent of CP and Southern Railway, as passenger service would have to be scheduled around freight movement.”

John Vissers is a recently retired owner of a construction company that built multifamily housing. He has lived in Abbotsford for 30 years and sits on the city’s development advisory committee. On a good day, Abbotsford is a little more than a one-hour drive from Vancouver.

His city might not be as dense as Surrey, but what policy-makers are missing, he says, is that Abbotsford is expected to expand to about 200,000 people – and nobody is preparing for that. He was involved in the development of an official community plan to add density and create urban areas as opposed to sprawl, but that can only be accomplished with better transit. Mr. Vissers says Abbotsford households are so car dependent that they often own three or four cars.

He supports the revival of the interurban as an expedient way to develop affordable housing and a walkable city.

“Why aren’t we doing this?

What’s holding us back and why are the policy-makers not interested?” he asks. “That’s the thing that mystifies me. We own the land and we did it 100 years ago, why can’t we do it now? I think they are using a 20th-century model for their thinking.”

The needs of the entire Valley should be considered, he says. He is not opposed to residents in Surrey and Langley who want SkyTrain.

“I see us as complementing SkyTrain and saying, ‘Here is another tool in the toolbox, another way of adding to the capacity for public transportation.’ We are looking at how we can move people regionally and at an affordable price. We don’t want to wait another 20 years, and why should we?” Developers will embrace the interurban system because the line goes through downtown Abbotsford, he says. City council recently agreed that a proposal for a 600-unit downtown housing project should go to public hearing. If built, it would significantly densify the downtown core. His city is expected to grow by 40,000 in the next 20 years alone, and yet there is no significant plan for transit.

He says the people of Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack can’t wait for another 20 years.

“We are transitioning from a sprawl city to a livable, walkable, sustainable city,” he says. “We’ve developed an official community plan to absorb that increase, without growing our footprint, which is pretty exciting.

“But what we haven’t done is find any other regional transportation than that freeway. We know it’s a big mistake, but we haven’t really developed a plan to address that.”

Developer Michael Geller, who builds low- to mid-density projects, also embraces the interurban idea. He says the interurban would encourage development around the stations and revitalize communities. He argues that commuters would rather get work done while sitting in a train than sitting idle in a car.

“When they brought these train lines in in the old days, that’s what dictated where development went,” he says. “With trams and trains, you can have more stops than when you have a SkyTrain. And so you begin to get the development that happened 80 years ago.

“Housing development and transportation, they go together, and I think it’s just a matter of time before we do have a tram service or train service or some hybrid back out to Chilliwack … because you have housing choices out there you don’t have in Vancouver or north Vancouver, and it will help with affordability.”

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