Vancouver British Columbia - The scene was quiet Tuesday morning as CP Rail restarted its work clearing brush and community gardens from the Arbutus Corridor.
 
At 10:00 on SW Marine Drive, workers used a backhoe to clear blackberry bushes running along the disused spur line, making their way toward a ramshackle row of community gardens.
 
No gardeners were on the scene to protest the destruction of their plots, but railway police officers were conducting patrols of the work site.
 
Dick France, who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1986, called the clearing work a "lot of posturing on the part of CPR" in its battle with the city, and said he doubts the rail line will ever return to service.
 
"This corridor doesn't have much use. It doesn't supply anything. It's just here," France said.
 
He added that he'd like to see a park in the area instead, but has little hope that will happen.
 
Vancouver has offered to buy the land for $20 million, but CPR believes it is worth more than $100 million.
 
CPR had ripped up about 150 metres worth of gardens along the corridor in August, but stopped its work in the fall in response to an application for an injunction filed by the City of Vancouver.
 
A B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled last month that the city has no claim to the 11-kilometre route and can't make claims on behalf of community gardeners along the line.
 
CPR stopped running trains along the line 14 years ago.
 
The city has filed a separate lawsuit seeking to have it declared abandoned, that case will be heard later this year.

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