The backers of Vancouver Island鈥檚 E&N railway are confident the trains will run again, but they need to drop their rose-coloured glasses when they read a report on the state of the track.
The Island Corridor Foundation still longs to hear the sound of train whistles, but for that to happen, Islanders will need to start hearing the sound of hammers on steel. So far, we have been listening in vain.
The report says the plan to upgrade the line is 鈥減ushing the limits of safety to the extreme.鈥�
The thread running through the analysis by Alberto Simoes of RTC Rail Solutions Ltd. is that the planned track upgrades won鈥檛 be adequate.
The provincial government is rightly taking a deep breath before it releases the money that has been set aside to fund the track improvement.
After a deal among the Island Corridor Foundation (which owns the track), Southern Rail of Vancouver Island and Via Rail was finally signed last summer, work on the track was supposed to start during the winter and take nine months.
But tenders for the work have not been let, and $20 million in federal, provincial and local government money is still locked up. That is only a fraction of the cost of upgrading the line, which has been pegged at $103 million.
The RTC report, based on documents rather than an on-site inspection, says the plan won鈥檛 bring the line up to industry standards for Class 3 speed, which is 40 m.p.h. for freight and 60 m.p.h. for passenger trains.
The corridor foundation objects, saying that the consultant used 鈥渨rong assumptions.鈥�
In a statement, it said: 鈥淪pecifically, passenger train speed would only be 40 m.p.h., not 60 m.p.h. as referenced in the report; freight train speed would be 30 m.p.h. not 40 m.p.h.; track weight of 286k lbs. is not necessary as there will not be heavy trains running on the track.鈥�
However, the report says that鈥檚 not good enough. Even if engineers are told to run slowly, the line must be capable of taking the maximum speeds, RTC says. And the proposed timetable would require passenger trains to exceed 40 m.p.h. for stretches as long as eight kilometres to keep on schedule, it says.
RTC repeatedly uses the expression: 鈥渄oes not meet industry standards.鈥� The track is too light, 鈥渢ie plates鈥� that secure rails to ties aren鈥檛 strong enough to support expected traffic, there aren鈥檛 enough anchors to prevent the rails from creeping forward or backward, the ballast under the track is contaminated and won鈥檛 drain properly.
Even if the upgrade goes ahead, the proposed schedule calls for trains to take two and a half hours to travel between Nanaimo and Victoria, much longer than it takes to drive. The limitations on freight weights could make it much harder to turn a profit.
Government and opposition politicians say they back the project, and the foundation is still optimistic, although it has stopped predicting when the trains will run again.
But words aren鈥檛 dollars 鈥� and hard work and good intentions aren鈥檛 enough. We need to see a plan built on realistic cost and traffic projections.
If passenger rail on the Island is dying, let鈥檚 get on with using the $350 million in assets held by the Island Corridor Foundation. Short commuter-rail service. Trails. Something Islanders would really use.
