Western Railroad Discussion > BC Rail: No 2010 Olympic Service??

I was up in British Columbia over Christmas with my wife. It was already getting a bit crazy trying to drive up Hwy 99 on the weekends because of traffic trying to get up to Whistler before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics and I wanted to go to the West Coast Heritage Railroad Park in Squmish. It occurred to me that I should check BC Rail's passenger service and head up the coast that way. Much to my surprise, there is no passenger service! It's been suspended, supposedly to start up later in the year. If you go to the Official Olympics website, there is no mention of rail travel. It's a rough drive up Hwy 99 because in several places, it's only two lanes - one up and one down, that;s it! Anybody got any insight into why such a decision was made to not take advantage of an existing rail infrastructure to move large amounts of people?

There is no BC Rail anymore either!

Regards, Jim Evans

It's the CN--what do you expect?

The policy decision was made to have a wider and improved Highway 99.

HWY 99 has been extensively upgraded/widened. There is only one small section of two lane road remaining between north Vancouver and Whistler.

Actually, there is still BC Rail. It's now the British Columbia Railway Co. I've pasted in this reply a link to their website to read the 2009/10 – 2011/12 Service Plan Update. Sad but true. One of the most scenic rail journeys in all of North America is gone.

http://bcrco.com/2009servplan.pdf

I also want to add the Hwy 99 has been upgraded, but it will not be able to handle the traffic flow. It's narrow in spots, it's scenic beauty (as well as the curves and lack of slow traffic pull-outs) is a distraction for some drivers that don't usually do mountainous driving. Two lanes in each direction is not really going to help much when you consider that the people who actually live in the towns along the road still have to get where they are going. A rail link would have been a godsend to reducing motor vehicle traffic.

Regular BC Rail passenger (Budd Car) service was discontinued October 2002 ??, heard that there is some sort of "passenger service" for dignitaries and guests etc for the Olympics, using Rocky Mountaineer equipment.

We are going to the Olympics and I thought how great it would be to ride the train there. As stated, no service. Big Bummer. Instead we must take a bus to Whistler for the 4 days we have tickets to the events. That should be just a blast. Well not really. Three hours long each way. You have to have a ticket to get on, and a reservation too. It is no charge to go to Whistler but costs to get back. Man I really wanted to ride a train there for those days too.

Hoggerdoug is right. BC Rail daily RDC service ended Oct 31, 2002. This was in preparation for the give away of the operation of BC Rail to CN. There was a sham of a bidding process before CN was awarded the long term operating rights. By long term I mean 990 years!!! The corruption in that case is still before our courts six years after it happened. The government and individuals involved have blocked the process at every turn.

The Olympic organizing committee looked at rail passenger service but it was deemed too slow and too expensive. The proposal was to build a tunnel under the harbour from downtown Vancouver to connect to the BC Rail line. The cost was given as 1.5 billion dollars. The tunnel was proposed because using existing trackage required a five mile back up move from Pacific Central station then slow industrial track through North Vancouver. Option 2 was to bus people to the North Vancouver station but it was felt if people were on buses already they might as well stay on and just drive to Whistler saving two to two and a half hours. With the upgraded highway (at public expense) a bus can make it to Whistler in around 90 minutes. The train is about 150 not including a bus transfer from downtown Vancouver.

Bottom line is no public train ride to Whistler.

The Province of Alberta has chartered some Rocky Mountaineer equipment and will make daily runs for VIP's and other invited guests. Best option if you really want a train ride in February is to saddle up to government officials in Alberta.

cp1400