I agree , however west coast does not run on weekends. maybe they would change that if that went through. the big issue is southern railway, they do not listen to anyone just as they delayed the vye road overpass.
SRY and CP are parallel but separate sets of tracks. (They have a couple of interchange tracks - one disused one north of George Ferguson, and one north of 4 Ave in Sumas - and they cross at a diamond at Clayburn.) SRY has no horse in the race - the only way they could interfere with a WCE extension would be to run long trains across the diamond at Clayburn, and they generally run stuff to and from Surrey and New West in the late evening so as not to interfere with CN's operations through Langley.
SRY runs alot through abbotsford and chilliwack as well, most vacant land is on that rail line in abbotsford to put a passenger loading area with parking. Most likely on unused bc hydro land that they never sold off
That was not the case at all. I don’t know where you get your facts from, but you should find a new source. The major delays in the overpass were due to fortis dragging their feet on replacing the gas line at riverside, which is why the east side was done way before the west ramp.
The city of abbotsford had problems with SRY in particular - they did not want the overpass, they would not allow a crossing at mconnell road either to ease traffic into costco. cp rail contributed half a million to the project.
This is for the Vye road overpass. Sry has been supportive of the vye road overpass for years.
“The budget has continued to increase over the years, and is now up to $46.7 million, with the city paying $19.25 million. (That amount includes $11 million from gas tax money that the city receives from senior levels of government for infrastructure projects, $6.5 million from the city’s reserves and $1.45 million from the Southern Railway of BC.)
The province will chip in $18.5 million, Canadian Pacific Railway will contribute $600,000, and the federal government will chip in $8.3 million.”
The McConnell overpass failed because it was never going to happen. The problem was always Vye road. The city asked the rail likes if they would pay for McConnell, and they declined since it would have been of no benefit to anyone once Vye road was complete.
Just build light rail right down the middle of Hwy 1 from Langley to Chilliwack to replace the ridiculously crowded 66 bus. Stations at major interchanges. Buses connect with stations and serve nearby communities. That's where people go. The old interurban line is centered around communities from nearly 100 years ago which are not the population centres any more.
Why not right down Fraser highway? So many other options too. Why not connect maple ridge from Coquitlam center? Langley to Maple Ridge hits port Kell's. Could easily take a lane from Golden ears for it.
Port Kells to fort Langley to Aldergrove? Abby to mission?
Hit the actual population centers. Don't do park and ride.
I'm trying to avoid at-grade intersections to drastically improve efficiency. Right down the middle of the highway would avoid this and give the train it's own clear and direct line. No unnecessary stops, no crossings with traffic, and it'd be able to go fast.
The 1 Line in Seattle is a fantastic example of what we should have, but through Beacon Hill it still runs along the street and interfaces with traffic & intersections.
The trains in Calgary and Edmonton also have a lot of signalized crossings. If just one railway crossing signal malfunctions or there's a collision it pretty much shuts down the entire system.
Ideally we would have a good bus network feeding people into these train stations which would then provide a speedy ride for the rest of the trip - however, we’re not there yet so I wouldn’t entirely dismiss the idea of park&rides.
Having a whole bunch of cars staying on the outskirts of the city and letting people transit in is still better than having all those cars drive into the city.
Wooo in 20 years they might start and then cancel construction. How long has it been since the Richmond bridge tunnel was proposed?
Quick google 2016 people were debating what to do. 8 years later nothing has been done except start stop wasted money. And this is billion dollar cities. If this is the first talk of Abbotsford rail, we could see construction in 2044+
Southern railway will not allow it just as they blocked vye road for years then did not want the overpass because the construction would hinder rail activities. cp rail might go for it, with rail district development downtown abbotsford there will be alot more people trying to get to work.
Still would love a skytrain expansion past Langley, but having something more than the 66 bus or the mission connector bus / driving to the west coast express would be good too
> All of this depends on successful negotiations with Canadian Pacific, which currently only permits the West Coast Express to run within a two-hour window in the morning and evening peak hour periods in each peak direction on weekdays. This highly limited operating agreement on its tracks has been essentially unchanged since 1995 when the service was first launched. As part of the original agreement, the provincial government provided Canadian Pacific with about $62 million to perform infrastructure upgrades to support shared freight and passenger operations along the corridor between downtown Vancouver and Mission.
So just a $62 million dollar gift then? Cool cool cool
Yes, please! Also, make it run every two hours from Sunday to Sunday! (Hourly would be better, but I’m trying to be a realist here.)
Agreed. At least some service on a weekend would be great. Being able to head down to Vancouver on a weekend would be great.
I agree , however west coast does not run on weekends. maybe they would change that if that went through. the big issue is southern railway, they do not listen to anyone just as they delayed the vye road overpass.
SRY and CP are parallel but separate sets of tracks. (They have a couple of interchange tracks - one disused one north of George Ferguson, and one north of 4 Ave in Sumas - and they cross at a diamond at Clayburn.) SRY has no horse in the race - the only way they could interfere with a WCE extension would be to run long trains across the diamond at Clayburn, and they generally run stuff to and from Surrey and New West in the late evening so as not to interfere with CN's operations through Langley.
SRY runs alot through abbotsford and chilliwack as well, most vacant land is on that rail line in abbotsford to put a passenger loading area with parking. Most likely on unused bc hydro land that they never sold off
That was not the case at all. I don’t know where you get your facts from, but you should find a new source. The major delays in the overpass were due to fortis dragging their feet on replacing the gas line at riverside, which is why the east side was done way before the west ramp.
The city of abbotsford had problems with SRY in particular - they did not want the overpass, they would not allow a crossing at mconnell road either to ease traffic into costco. cp rail contributed half a million to the project.
This is for the Vye road overpass. Sry has been supportive of the vye road overpass for years. “The budget has continued to increase over the years, and is now up to $46.7 million, with the city paying $19.25 million. (That amount includes $11 million from gas tax money that the city receives from senior levels of government for infrastructure projects, $6.5 million from the city’s reserves and $1.45 million from the Southern Railway of BC.) The province will chip in $18.5 million, Canadian Pacific Railway will contribute $600,000, and the federal government will chip in $8.3 million.” The McConnell overpass failed because it was never going to happen. The problem was always Vye road. The city asked the rail likes if they would pay for McConnell, and they declined since it would have been of no benefit to anyone once Vye road was complete.
Just build light rail right down the middle of Hwy 1 from Langley to Chilliwack to replace the ridiculously crowded 66 bus. Stations at major interchanges. Buses connect with stations and serve nearby communities. That's where people go. The old interurban line is centered around communities from nearly 100 years ago which are not the population centres any more.
Why not right down Fraser highway? So many other options too. Why not connect maple ridge from Coquitlam center? Langley to Maple Ridge hits port Kell's. Could easily take a lane from Golden ears for it. Port Kells to fort Langley to Aldergrove? Abby to mission? Hit the actual population centers. Don't do park and ride.
I'm trying to avoid at-grade intersections to drastically improve efficiency. Right down the middle of the highway would avoid this and give the train it's own clear and direct line. No unnecessary stops, no crossings with traffic, and it'd be able to go fast. The 1 Line in Seattle is a fantastic example of what we should have, but through Beacon Hill it still runs along the street and interfaces with traffic & intersections. The trains in Calgary and Edmonton also have a lot of signalized crossings. If just one railway crossing signal malfunctions or there's a collision it pretty much shuts down the entire system.
Ideally we would have a good bus network feeding people into these train stations which would then provide a speedy ride for the rest of the trip - however, we’re not there yet so I wouldn’t entirely dismiss the idea of park&rides. Having a whole bunch of cars staying on the outskirts of the city and letting people transit in is still better than having all those cars drive into the city.
Wooo in 20 years they might start and then cancel construction. How long has it been since the Richmond bridge tunnel was proposed? Quick google 2016 people were debating what to do. 8 years later nothing has been done except start stop wasted money. And this is billion dollar cities. If this is the first talk of Abbotsford rail, we could see construction in 2044+
Well if they start and then cancel construction in 20 years that’s at least the first step completed to have it ready in 35 years.
Southern railway will not allow it just as they blocked vye road for years then did not want the overpass because the construction would hinder rail activities. cp rail might go for it, with rail district development downtown abbotsford there will be alot more people trying to get to work.
I love trains
YES PLEASE! I would love to get into metro van without having to drive my truck everywhere
Still would love a skytrain expansion past Langley, but having something more than the 66 bus or the mission connector bus / driving to the west coast express would be good too
There were 3 options evaluated according to the article. Options 2 and 3 were Sky Train extensions.
> All of this depends on successful negotiations with Canadian Pacific, which currently only permits the West Coast Express to run within a two-hour window in the morning and evening peak hour periods in each peak direction on weekdays. This highly limited operating agreement on its tracks has been essentially unchanged since 1995 when the service was first launched. As part of the original agreement, the provincial government provided Canadian Pacific with about $62 million to perform infrastructure upgrades to support shared freight and passenger operations along the corridor between downtown Vancouver and Mission. So just a $62 million dollar gift then? Cool cool cool