E&N tracks off the radar for regional rapid transit
Commuter rail advocates are worried the BC Transit rapid transit plan will push rebuilding the E&N railway onto the backburner.
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Updated: October 21, 2009 5:07 PM
Commuter rail advocates are worried the E&N line will fall by the wayside after BC Transit picked its preferred route for regional rapid transit.
Transit planners unveiled their preferred transit corridor earlier this month. The route runs from Langford along Goldstream Avenue to Colwood Corners, along Island Highway and the Trans-Canada Highway to Uptown then along Douglas Street into the downtown core.
The plan has moved away from considering the E&N rail line for rapid transit, giving preference to moving West Shore commuters through Uptown. The majority of West Shore residents work outside the West Shore and most travel through the Uptown area, said Jack Stuempel, a consultant with BC Transit.
“Only 14 per cent of people from the West Shore go to downtown Victoria, and that’s along the most heavily congested corridor in the system,” Stuempel said. “If you push people downtown and then (up along Douglas) you just increase congestion.”
Juan de Fuca NDP MLA John Horgan, who has lobbied hard to establish commuter rail on the E&N, doesn’t disagree with BC Transit’s analysis, but is worried the existing rail line will get lost in the mix.
The Ministry of Transportation is conducting a $500,000 study on the viability of the entire E&N line for commuter and freight service, due out later this year. Horgan said Victoria Regional Rapid Transit (VRRT) planners should slow down to let the E&N study catch up.
“Getting Uptown as a hub is important, but I don’t want to lose momentum on the rail corridor,” Horgan said. “It’s clear not everyone is headed downtown, but that doesn’t diminish the value of light rapid transit on the E&N corridor.”
Dick Faulks, with IslandTranformations.org, a commuter rail advocate, said BC Transit is still focused on buses and the preferred routing is a “rehash of the earlier one which caused an uproar by the Douglas Street business community.”
Erinn Pinkerton, project manager for VRRT, said the E&N tracks simply don’t have the capacity for rapid transit, defined as better than 10 minute service for about 12 hours per day.
The E&N would need to twin its tracks to meet that standard, she said, but that doesn’t rule it out for less frequent morning and evening commuter rail.
“As soon as you increase the frequency you have to double the track, so essentially rebuild the E&N line,” Pinkerton said. “But not everyone goes downtown. We’ve got to get people to UVic, to the Saanich Peninsula. By bringing people downtown you still bring them through Uptown.”
The preferred VRRT corridor is good news for Colwood Corners, which is planned as a major development with 11 highrise buildings and an underground transit hub built in.
Les Bjola, president of Turner Lane Developments, said they can accommodate whatever transit technology BC Transit lands on.
“BC Transit has included us in their plans, so that’s great, we couldn’t ask for any more than that,” Bjola said.
Pinkerton said it will take about a year for transit to figure out its preferred technology — be it trolleys, trains or buses. BC Transit still needs to present MOT a business plan that includes the capital and operating costs, estimated emissions, passenger fares and other details to have a crack at provincial funding.
“The vision of rapid transit is a soft approach,” Pinkerton said. “It’s not a SkyTrain. It would be a street, at-grade system.”
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
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