Western Railroad Discussion > Passenger Test Train on BC Rail

On Wed June 16 a demonstration passenger train was run on BC Rail between North Vancouver and Wedge (Whistler) for proposed passenger train service. Part of the deal involving the transfer of operations of BC Rail to CN includes a third party operator being allowed to run on BC Rail between North Vancouver, Whistler and possibly Prince George.
The demonstration train on June 16 consisted of BC Rail Dash 8-40CM #4620 (for dynamic braking), Via F40-2PH #6440, Rocky Mountaineer coach 3030, Via Skyline dome #8515 and CN 100 business car Pacific Spirit. This is the first appearance of an F40 on BC Rail.

This first photo shows the train departing North Vancouver at 07:12 on Jun 16.

As you can see the train did not consist of DMU cars as stated in the press release. Colorado Railcar DMU's are proposed as part of the Whistler Railtour/Via bid. Rocky Mountaineer would likely run with existing equipment and a conventional train.

cp1400

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Photo 2 show the train passing the old station site at Porteau where the BC Rail dinner train used to stop. The station here was demolished earlier in 2004.

cp1400

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Photo 3 shows the train arriving at Wedge. There is a ballast loading pit here and a wye with a substantial tail. It will be used to turn the passenger train. Wedge is located 7.7 miles north of the old station site of Whistler. A trackside hotel is under construction near the Whistler station site and Whistler Railtours plans to use this resort hotel as a base for arriving passengers if their bid is succesful.

cp1400

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Nice shots,

Gee, even the Canadians are as dumb as us Yanks, trash a perfectly good rail passenger service, then re-run it again 2 years later at 3 times the cost!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well giving them credit, at least they don't wait ten years, then re-start it. With the Olympics coming up, that Sea to Sky joke of a highway in the winter is NOT the safest way to get up to that resort area.

Restoring rail passenger service wouldn't even be 1/20th of the cost(maybe 1/50th) the cost of the money they are going to put into that hiway!!!!!!!

Steampower

It did occur to me as I was driving back and forth through Cheakamus Canyon last month that it would make a lot of sense to offer passenger-train service between Vancouver and Whistler during the Olympics. But considering that except for certain radio-controlled switches, the line is entirely unsignalled, so any significant volume of trains could create a dispatching problem, and where would the equipment come from?

steampower Wrote:
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> Nice shots,
>
> Gee, even the Canadians are as dumb as us Yanks,
> trash a perfectly good rail passenger service,
> then re-run it again 2 years later at 3 times the
> cost!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well giving them credit, at
> least they don't wait ten years, then re-start it.
> With the Olympics coming up, that Sea to Sky joke
> of a highway in the winter is NOT the safest way
> to get up to that resort area.
>
>
> Steampower

Slow down there, Steampower, the decision to abandon all passenger service was BC Rail's, not the Province's. Reason? Province required them to run passenger service, but refused to pay for servicing or maintenance of equipment, MoW, stations, etc. BCR lost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the service; for a railway that was under intense scutiny about its debt to the Province, that was just not acceptable. Thus, they put their foot down with the Province and said either you pay, or we'll discontinue. The Province chose to let BCR discontinue.

Interestingly, after BCR discontinued passenger and intermodal service, and made some other operational changes, they began to make a profit. I believe last year they actually made about $75 million, net. Seems strange that debt is the reason the Province uses to justify their sale...another 10 years under existing leadership and it would be likely that BCR could pay off the debt in total. Guess CN's $1 billion up front was just too tempting to wait it out!