Re: 鈥淚sland rail foundation: E&N line is not dead yet,鈥� Jan. 2.
Here we go again. The Island Corridor Foundation is planning to do yet another condition assessment of the E&N bridges and track. Why don鈥檛 they just pull out the old assessment completed a few years ago and conclude that the track is still in terrible shape and that the cost of repairing it has probably increased a lot? There, I鈥檝e saved them some money.
What the ICF needs to do is produce a proper business plan on rail and commuter trains running on the south Island.
There are a lot of romantics out there who think it would be fun to ride the train with their coffee and read the sa国际传媒 while whizzing through the countryside. The reality is that the train crosses many uncontrolled streets, so it will have many stops/slowdowns and will end about a kilometre from the downtown core of Victoria.
The old saying of 鈥渨e won鈥檛 know until we do it鈥� seems alive and well in the ICF. They keep throwing this idea against the wall, hoping it might stick, ignoring the fact that it will cost many millions of dollars without really knowing if it is viable or if people will get out of their cars to ride the rails.
Let鈥檚 focus on a regional transit plan instead of 13 mayors, the Capital Regional District and now the ICF that are hell-bent on trying to fix the Colwood Crawl in isolation.
Elaine Szostak
View Royal
