Canadian Railroads > VIA Evacuation Train

VIA ran an evacuation train last evening on the 150km between Hope and Vancouver with 200 aboard. It used the Canadian set stuck in Vancouver and a joint effort of VIA, CN and BC Emergency Management.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/evacuation-train-departs-hope-b-c-bound-for-vancouver-with-200-passengers-1.6253392

This video is blurry, but clear enough to show it is the entire consist of the Canadian - a short consist for the off-season.

https://www.hopestandard.com/news/lougheed-highway-to-open-westbound-for-the-hundreds-of-travellers-stuck-in-hope/


 

I thought about that on the Monday after the big rain.  Once it became clear that it was going to be a few
days before any of the roads opened it would have been a no-brainer to run Via's stranded consist out
there and gather up some of the people who were stuck.  I know it takes a bit of time to organize these things
​but it seems they were a little late out of the gate.

There seems to have been minimal communication in Hope regarding what was happening with the roads
and the possibility of getting out.  As I mentioned earlier my daughter was stuck out there but they opened
Hwy 7 to westbound traffic late yesterday evening and she was able to drive out.  (It took her from shortly
after 7:00 PM till 11:30 to make it home in Surrey but at least she is out!)

The only reason she knew the road was open was because my wife heard it on the radio and texted her
with the info.  She had heard nothing in Hope.  Now I don't know where she was hanging out prior to getting
the news but it would seem that the information wasn't readily available to everyone.  And she never
mentioned anything about being able to take the train out so I don't think she knew about that, either.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there were quite a few people flying out of the Hope airport by light plane or
helicopter and this happened till fairly late in the afternoon on Wednesday.  Some were picked up by family or
friends but others were paying significant money for the trip.  One helicopter operator wanted $1100 to
make the run from Hope to YVR.  Apparently Helijet had a couple of their S76s out there and they were
charging $375 per person (with an 8 passenger load) for the flight back to Vancouver.

So it appears that quite a few people who could have driven out later on Wednesday ended up abandoning
their vehicles and flying out earlier in the day.  The same would apply to those who came out on the train.
If they had known the road was going to open would they have left their vehicles behind?
 

Keith Robertson
Langley, BC

Saw two segments on CBC Vancouver 6 news today. Any pictures other that we can capture?

200 people got a very posh consist. They couldn't cram them all into 2 coaches.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 200 people got a very posh consist. They couldn't
> cram them all into 2 coaches.

The passengers were only in the cars ahead of the dining car, which in turn was ahead of all the sleepers. There were three coaches behind the baggage car at the head of the train.

Here's my video of the evacuation train on the move westbound through the community of Fort Langley approx mile 102.5 CN Yale Sub. After loading passengers at Hope the train backed from Hope (mile 40.2) to Matsqui Jct (mile 87.9) to turn the train on CP's Mission and Page Subs before running forward the rest of the way to Vancouver. I can only guess CN did not have an open siding to run power around the train, nor did Via provide back to back locomotives for such a move. The train ran much later than anticipated and passed my location at Fort Langley at 00:15.

cp1400

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Never heard that horn before on a VIA F40. Much lower toned.