Beginning in 1906 the Vancouver Power Company, which soon became the BC Electric Railway (BCER), raised title to the Interurban right-of-way from the New Westminster Rail Bridge (just upstream of the Patullo Bridge) to Chilliwack. This right-of-way is not continuous.
 
Where it came to pre-existing gazetted roads, (approximately every mile) the road right-of-way was preserved, and there is a gap in the rail right-of-way. The right of the railway to cross these gaps was secured through a set of contracts with each municipality between Surrey and Chilliwack. These contracts, which were adopted as municipal bylaws, gave the BCER the right to traverse municipal roads.
 
The railway, based on a legal opinion, insisted that the bylaws be adopted through a public plebiscite process. Interestingly, if the bylaw needs to be amended, I believe that a public plebiscite will be required. Several of the bylaws, which were adopted prior to 1910 are on the VALTAC website. When BC Hydro, the successor of BCER, got out of the railway business, they DID NOT sell the right-of-way (which they retained as a hydro transmission corridor).
 
Hydro sold the hardware, (engines, railcars, tracks, etc.) to the predecessor of Southern Rail of BC (SRY) and a licence for freight traffic only. BC Hydro retained passenger rights and the ability to issue passenger licences. A passenger licencee, naturally enough, would have to come to an arrangement with SRY to share the tracks. This is happening.
 
The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society, based at Sullivan Station, 152nd and 64th in Surrey, has a letter from BC Hydro granting limited passenger rights provided they can satisfy the needs of SRY to share the tracks.
 
The heavy trains serving Delta Port, which use a short portion of the tracks through the Langleys, were granted a freight licence by BC Hydro. BC Hydro again retained passenger rights and the ability to assign passenger rights. The contract contains the interesting provision that passenger operations would NOT have to pay operating costs until wheelage exceeds 1/3 of the total traffic (which would be a whale of a lot of passenger traffic!).
 
Traffic control on this portion of track is via BC Rail. Although the bulk of the provincial rail system was recently sold to federally controlled railways, the Interurban line remains a provincially regulated railway.
 
All of the above comes from discussions with Southern Rail of BC, BC Hydro, and the Ministry of Transportation as well as examination of documents at the Land Title Office and UBC Special Collections. Many of the pertinent documents have been posted on www.valtac.org. If anyone needs more detail, VALTAC has four binders of information focusing on the Langley portion of the Interurban line from 1907 to date.
 
Author unknown.