Heavy Rail, Commuter Rail, & Intercity Transportation

[Migrant_Coconut]

Never trust an infrastructure website that comes with a tip jar.

[logicbomb]

https://www.squamishchief.com/local-news...s-sea-to-sky-corridor-line-mean-10960033

The Canadian National Railway Company (CN) has declared its plan to decommission part of its railway line from north of the railyards in Squamish through to 100 Mile.

The railway is mandated to release its railway line plans to the government and the public, which it did on July 11.

Its three-year plan shows it'll decommission its “Squamish subdivision” of the railway line heading north of the District of Squamish to Lillooet—from mile marker 43.00 through to 157.60.

I just see no way forward for any passenger rail line up this section. There's been barely any investments put in the corridor and BC Rail no longer has rolling stock.

It will probably be another massive trail in a few years though.

[casper]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

https://www.squamishchief.com/local-news...s-sea-to-sky-corridor-line-mean-10960033



I just see no way forward for any passenger rail line up this section. There's been barely any investments put in the corridor and BC Rail no longer has rolling stock.

It will probably be another massive trail in a few years though.

Time for BC Rail to take over the line again. They still own the line.

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by casper

Time for BC Rail to take over the line again. They still own the line.

BC Rail used to rely on short-haul rail operations across many towns including Squamish to generate revenue. CN went about their business to sever short-haul operations, and many customers along the route either shuttered down or elected to use trucking.

CN is intent on maintaining Squamish-North Van operations as well which makes any regional freight and passenger rail service from North Vancouver to Williams Lake impossible to fulfill with CN in the way.

The initial start up costs will be in the stratosphere as BC Rail has no fleet. No locomotives. No cars. No maintenance facility. CN has slightly maintained the line but there's a ton of rails that need to be replaced along with crossings/bridges that have reached their end of life cycle.

We're probably talking about 5-10 billion to get BC Rail operations ready to lose billions annually....all to service a tiny number of small towns that have been accustomed to using automobiles?

The line will probably be abandoned with a gradual rails-to-trails conversions from Squamish to Williams Lake, with many portions being given back to the First Nations group. It will just take about 20-40 years for that process to evolve.

[mcj]

Realistically, if the Island rail corridor doesn't pencil out, I don't know how a Squamish to 100 Mile House corridor would. The Province could make a subsidized mostly single tracked service between North Van and Pemberton work, but anything passed Pemberton just will never pencil out.

[Migrant_Coconut]

What you really want to do is go back in time and shoot Gordon Campbell before the Liberals make the sale. All BC can do now is damage control.

Even passenger rail from North Van to Squamish - which can't happen if CN still owns that section - is iffy; it's 60+ km of Class 2 track (speed limit 30 km/h) with only two passing tracks. You're effectively paying for a very large, less-frequent coach bus.

[djmk]

3 million people a year visit whistler plus all the staff. All of them take highway 99

A train is needed

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

https://www.squamishchief.com/local-news...s-sea-to-sky-corridor-line-mean-10960033



I just see no way forward for any passenger rail line up this section. There's been barely any investments put in the corridor and BC Rail no longer has rolling stock.

It will probably be another massive trail in a few years though.

If the floods a few years ago showed us anything, its a good idea to decommission existing alternative corridors and put all our eggs in one basket... Seriously, our railways are awful.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by djmk

3 million people a year visit whistler plus all the staff. All of them take highway 99

A train is needed

BC Rail ended passenger service two years before the sale. Not holding my breath.

[officedweller]

The first Amtrak Airo trainset (bearing Cascades livery) is undergoing testing in Colorado.


https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/07/23/s...rains-coming-to-amtrak-cascades-in-2026/


https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/07/23/s...rains-coming-to-amtrak-cascades-in-2026/

Here it is being towed to Colorado:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMenesKMPaL/?igsh=MXF2MmNnZHE0YnA0cg%3D%3D

• Video Link

[Glow Fun City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The first Amtrak Airo trainset (bearing Cascades livery) is undergoing testing in Colorado.

Beauty! Looking forward to increased service down to Seattle and Portland too…

[Capitol Hill]

I wish we had consistent speeds of at least 100 mph.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by djmk

3 million people a year visit whistler plus all the staff. All of them take highway 99

A train is needed

This is true... and yes I know a bus would be more frequent, but why not both. Amtrak Cascades runs both buses and trains and I know which one I would prefer to take (despite it being slower).

And with congestion on the S2S not getting any better... it seems like something we should at least be "planning" for. I don't think it needs to be BC Rail cars, but I wonder if an outfit that already has trains could run the line. Could we not use a WCE trainset on the weekends, for example?

I realize this might not work with the time tables, but the WCE trains sit at Waterfront just waiting to go back to Mission.

The FIRST WCE train gets to Waterfront at 6:40am.
The LAST WCE train leaves Waterfront at 6:20.

That's 12 hours of sitting.

What if that train left Waterfront at 7am for Whistler?

It would have to backtrack through the Grandview Cut to the 2nd Narrows, so not super practical for a trip from downtown but convenient if you wanted a one-seat ride... or if you were picking up the train in North Van.

I'll assume it gets into Whistler before 10am. Great timing for someone heading up for the weekend. It leaves Whistler by 3PM to (I would assume) arrive back in Vancouver so a few hours after people have checked out of hotels.

Some tourists would take it for a ½ day trip too, I'm sure just for the experience.

---
Alternatively, if that schedule seems too "crazy" for some people, you simply use the trains on the weekends for early morning runs up to Whistler.

You'd just have to get a trainset from Mission to population centers... but with some creativity you could get it to work. You'd even get an extra run from Mission to Vancouver on the weekend for Mission-ites (Missionaries?) who want to spend the whole day in Vancouver on the weekend.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by Glow Fun City

Beauty! Looking forward to increased service down to Seattle and Portland too…

CityNerd has a breakdown of the Cascadia High-speed proposal which is interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVL8-7KxUz8

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

This is true... and yes I know a bus would be more frequent, but why not both. Amtrak Cascades runs both buses and trains and I know which one I would prefer to take (despite it being slower).

And with congestion on the S2S not getting any better... it seems like something we should at least be "planning" for. I don't think it needs to be BC Rail cars, but I wonder if an outfit that already has trains could run the line. Could we not use a WCE trainset on the weekends, for example?

I realize this might not work with the time tables, but the WCE trains sit at Waterfront just waiting to go back to Mission.

The FIRST WCE train gets to Waterfront at 6:40am.
The LAST WCE train leaves Waterfront at 6:20.

That's 12 hours of sitting.

What if that train left Waterfront at 7am for Whistler?

It would have to backtrack through the Grandview Cut to the 2nd Narrows, so not super practical for a trip from downtown but convenient if you wanted a one-seat ride... or if you were picking up the train in North Van.

I'll assume it gets into Whistler before 10am. Great timing for someone heading up for the weekend. It leaves Whistler by 3PM to (I would assume) arrive back in Vancouver so a few hours after people have checked out of hotels.

Some tourists would take it for a ½ day trip too, I'm sure just for the experience.

---
Alternatively, if that schedule seems too "crazy" for some people, you simply use the trains on the weekends for early morning runs up to Whistler.

You'd just have to get a trainset from Mission to population centers... but with some creativity you could get it to work. You'd even get an extra run from Mission to Vancouver on the weekend for Mission-ites (Missionaries?) who want to spend the whole day in Vancouver on the weekend.

1) The WCE would have to share a very busy track along the Grandview Cut and would need to switchback and share a busy crossing into North Van. It would take 45 min to 1 hour get to North Vancouver alone. Another 3 hrs to Whistler. So around 4 hours when a bus could take 90-120min.

2) CN is going to continue to hold the line between North Vancouver and Whistler. Even in the inevitable outcome where there are no longer customers in Squamish, they may elect to use the line as storage just to strong arm the government into purchasing the ROW.

3) There's already chatter about the Rocky Mountaineer ceasing the Rainforest to Gold Rush route. It seems like a foregone conclusion that the ROW north of Squamish will be abandoned with a high probability of the ROW being sectioned off and returned to the First Nations group.

I think rail is a long-term solution to the insane congestion around the province but there's zero political will at all levels to inspire any meaningful vision when it comes to a commuter rail network.

[Migrant_Coconut]

A) That backtracking section means the WCE'd have to reverse all the way to Willingdon before going onto the Second Narrows track. One suspects you'd need both a public-funded wye and serious negotiation with both CP and CN in order to make it work.

B) It'd have to be a cheap fix, because right now BC's capital transit budget is tiny and wholly dedicated on getting to Arbutus and Langley (later UBC, Lonsdale, possibly 41st/Hastings/Newton).

[djmk]

park the trains at Neptune terminals and build the station under the ICBC building

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

1)2) CN is going to continue to hold the line between North Vancouver and Whistler. Even in the inevitable outcome where there are no longer customers in Squamish, they may elect to use the line as storage just to strong arm the government into purchasing the ROW.

The government already owns the ROW, CN uses it under a 60 year lease. The issue isn't who owns it, the issue is that under the terms of the lease agreement CN is obligated to maintain the ROW in serviceable condition. I believe I've read somewhere that CN is trying to weasel out of that, but I have no idea what the status is or the chances of it happening.

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

A) That backtracking section means the WCE'd have to reverse all the way to Willingdon before going onto the Second Narrows track. One suspects you'd need both a public-funded wye and serious negotiation with both CP and CN in order to make it work.

I'm not sure why "reversing" would be an issue for the WCE - the trainsets are designed to be able to run in both directions without turning them, and indeed do so every day.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

I'm not sure why "reversing" would be an issue for the WCE - the trainsets are designed to be able to run in both directions without turning them, and indeed do so every day.

Clarification: my concern isn't the reversing itself, it's the lack of dedicated track to do so. Both CP and CN's lines are already busy enough as-is, so their answer will likely be "hah, that's a good one... NO" unless Victoria's willing to build said dedicated track itself.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

1) The WCE would have to share a very busy track along the Grandview Cut and would need to switchback and share a busy crossing into North Van. It would take 45 min to 1 hour get to North Vancouver alone. Another 3 hrs to Whistler. So around 4 hours when a bus could take 90-120min.

To be clear, I don't expect most people would take the train from Downtown to Whistler. Most people are going to take it from the North Shore... jump on a Seabus or something. I'm just thinking instead of having those trains just sit downtown waiting to go back to Mission, we use one to run up the Sea to Sky... and as a solution to... oh we don't have the trains.

2) CN is going to continue to hold the line between North Vancouver and Whistler. Even in the inevitable outcome where there are no longer customers in Squamish, they may elect to use the line as storage just to strong arm the government into purchasing the ROW.

3) There's already chatter about the Rocky Mountaineer ceasing the Rainforest to Gold Rush route. It seems like a foregone conclusion that the ROW north of Squamish will be abandoned with a high probability of the ROW being sectioned off and returned to the First Nations group.

I think rail is a long-term solution to the insane congestion around the province but there's zero political will at all levels to inspire any meaningful vision when it comes to a commuter rail network.

I agree... which is why it's important to maintain or at least consider planning out SOME kind of service along this corridor. Making it a designated transportation corridor that MUST be maintained, so some future cowboy gov't can't just approve its decommission.

It takes long-term thinking and planning. And the more you talk about it, the more it gets embedded into the public's mindset.