17 July 2010

Obsolete Railway Should be Scrapped

Saanich Vancouver Island British Columbia - I was struck by a photograph on Page A13 in the 15 Jul 2010 edition of the Times Colonist that encapsulates the E&N today.
 
It shows an obsolete piece of 1950s rail equipment, a museum piece by all standards, running on a derelict track structure.
 
The Canadian Pacific Railway ultimately deeded the E&N back to the province of British Columbia for the simple reason that it would cost far more to upgrade the rail line to Class I railway standards than it was worth in light of ever-diminishing traffic over the last half of the 20th century.
 
The tax benefits ultimately realized in deeding the property back were greater than the abandonment costs of the line, hence we now "own" this derelict "railway."
 
If one cares to consider railway economics now and well into the future, all major railways in North America derive their revenues from long-distance "heavy haul" bulk commodity and intermodal movements of containerized freight.
 
I see almost no evidence that either of these opportunities exists on Vancouver Island in the volumes necessary to justify the cost of upgrades, not to mention the maintenance cost of sustaining operations.
 
Had that been otherwise, CP Rail would have continued its operations before ultimately deeding the property back to the province.
 
The attempts of Rail America to operate the line some years ago as a shortline carrier were a failure due to a lack of traffic. A tourist operation also failed in the early part of the last decade.
 
Today the line is little more than a piecemeal operation involving a few freight movements and the heavily subsidized operation of the VIA Rail Dayliner and its small annual ridership.
 
On economic grounds, the E&N is simply not sustainable, and that has been very clear in study after study.
 
Both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific are profitable railways, but are so because of bulk commodity and intermodal traffic, much of which is trans-shipment to and from marine traffic terminals.
 
There are many shortlines today that operate successfully, but do so because of a steady source of rail traffic not present on Vancouver Island. To suggest that passenger service will support and sustain the line in the foreseeable futures flies in the face of economic reality.
 
The E&N is in such condition that it would be better to scrap it now and preserve the corridor on the basis that it could be used for an elevated commuter system at a future date.
 
Much of the Vancouver SkyTrain system has been built on abandoned CP Rail and B.C. Electric rail corridors. To imagine a high-speed commuter rail system with the number of grade crossings that exist on the E&N rail corridor is simply beyond comprehension and an outright invitation to fatal grade-crossing accidents.
 
The E&N corridor is a future asset, but not as either a heavy-haul railway or as a surface level, high-speed commuter rail system.
 
The E&N represents a far better bike and hiking trail in the short to medium-term than it does as a continuing railway operation.
 
At some future date, the corridor might hold some potential for a commuter system when population numbers make it economically viable, and the provincial government is absolutely right in not spending money on the E&N to sustain it as a railway.
 
Three rail operators have now walked away from the E&N for good reason, and that can be summarized in one word, economics.
 
James P. Crowley.