Interest in bringing back trains to Vancouver Island remains high, but the federal minister of transportation says he hasn’t seen any plan for it.
Plans for restoring the rail system across Vancouver Island have been put forward, along with a provincial commitment of $18 million for consultations and planning along the rail corridor, Pablo Rodriguez says he needs to see the plan for the feds to get involved.
He adds, putting a rail system in place to accommodate approximately one million people on the island requires a lot of work and there are many moving pieces that need to be put into place.
“There are many things raised here like the feasibility reconciliation, and cost,” he says. “I don’t have a project on my desk, but if we do of course we will look at it, but that where we are.”
He says having a rail system in place isn’t a matter of time, they need to see it addressed by the province and communities to provide direction.
“It’s not in our court, it’s in theirs,” he says. “I understand the importance for a lot of communities and if they have to come to us, it has to be something specific.”
An 18-month court deadline for the federal government to make a decision to fund the rail or return the right of way to the Snaw Naw First Nation passed more than a year ago.
However, a petition to reinstate rail service has already garnered 21,000 signatures.
