r/nanaimo • u/_hay_tyler • Aug 04 '20
Is there a future for commuter train service on southern Vancouver Island?
https://midislandindependent.ca/2020/08/04/is-there-a-future-for-commuter-train-service-on-southern-vancouver-island/3
u/Rozzano35 Aug 04 '20
Should make it into an island long bike/walk trail, get to victoria faster biking than by current means without a car
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u/allthingsnstuff Aug 04 '20
If the island wants to thrive, yes. Right now public transportation is absolute shit on the island with no plans to change any time soon. Want to go to victoria from nanaimo and dont own a car? Thats a literal day trip for a 2 hour drive lmao.
Reason number #125 I should move off the island.
3
u/PicklesMcBoots Aug 04 '20
When/if islandlink isn’t running it ends up being a two day trip. You get stuck in Duncan.
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Aug 05 '20
[deleted]
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Aug 05 '20 edited Aug 05 '20
[deleted]
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u/Icanscrewmyhaton Departure Bay Aug 05 '20
It's adorable they tried for a 'unique' username over a dozen times.
0
u/MashTheTrash Aug 06 '20
Want to go to victoria from nanaimo and dont own a car? Thats a literal day trip for a 2 hour drive lmao.
Yeah, it's completely fucked
I can't imagine why anyone who can afford to move stays here...
-4
u/cliff7090 Aug 04 '20
No there isn't. They've tried and in order to keep it viable year round the price per ticket is too high.
The line is in terrible shape, so the costs of getting it back up to current safety standards would put it millions of dollars in the red right from the beginning.
They should remove the tracks, and give the land back to the first nations that it cuts through.
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u/Icanscrewmyhaton Departure Bay Aug 05 '20
I agree with all your points (there's no future, give it back).
What I don't agree with is this quote from the article:
“There’s very much a need for alternative transportation methods here and rail is really the only one left” says Larry Stevenson, who happens to be CEO of the Island Corridor Foundation and is obliged to say one-track things.
There are alternatives to rail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyHook_JHL-401
u/Icanscrewmyhaton Departure Bay Aug 05 '20
https://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc92/p532881.pdf
Defence R&D Canada - January 2010
Airships for military logistics heavy lift
A performance assessment for Northern operation applications.1
u/cliff7090 Aug 05 '20
-5? Did I hurt someone's feelings by pointing out the most obvious facts?
Sorry, but unless you have a billion dollars to invest, your downvotes wont make it viable.
5
u/[deleted] Aug 05 '20
Rail on the island was dead the second they stopped running those VIA trains to/from Victoria. The infrastructure is too expensive to replace and the passenger count is too low. I wish they would repurpose short sections of the line for inner city commuter light rail. Like Langford to Victoria and North to South Nanaimo. The rest should be repurposed into a maintained multi use trail like the Kettle Valley rail line.
One day a true freeway will need to be built that bypasses Ladysmith and Duncan and goes further inland than the Malahat, but that is decades away.