By Thomas Cheney, Rail for the Valley, Chilliwack Chapter
In 1910, Premier Richard McBride drove the last spike of the British Columbia Electric Railway finally providing a convenient connection between the Fraser Valley and Vancouver. Beyond being a ribbon of steel, it brought the new technology of electricity to the hinterland.
Today, the old interurban line could again bring advanced technology and transportation options to Bradner and the rest of the Fraser Valley. The Rail for the Valley and South Fraser Community Rail initiatives together present plans to connect Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack with zero-emission hydrogen trains. This avoids the costs of electrifying the line while allowing British Columbia to showcase its excellence in the hydrogen and fuel cell sector. With over 1.2 million people currently living in the South Fraser region, a new solution, community rail is needed.
While it is clear that the valley needs new transportation options, there has been some debate on what form it should take. Current regional transportation plans focus around express bus service along Highway #1. However, express buses face two critical problems: they are prone to congestion and delays on the freeway and unlike the interurban, the freeway does not go to the region’s downtowns.
By contrast, the interurban links Downtown Chilliwack, Sardis, Yarrow, Huntington, Downtown Abbotsford, Mount Lehman, Bradner, Gloucester Industrial Park, Trinity Western University, Langley City, Cloverdale, Newton, North Delta with Scott Road Station where it connects with Skytrain. Because most commutes in the Fraser Valley do not cross the Fraser River, the proposed South Fraser Community Rail helps connect people to jobs, education, affordable housing and services in other communities south of the Fraser. Unlike the West Coast Express, the service would run all-day and every day in both directions with trains operating as frequently as every 20 minutes on the current single track. A reactivated rail service could travel at a top speed ranging between 80 to 120 kilometres per hour with an end-to-end journey time of 90 minutes. For Bradner, it would mean a covered passenger platform at the Bradner Road crossing, with passenger trains stopping briefly during their journey both eastward into downtown Abbotsford and westward to Langley and Surrey. With over $2 billion dollars to be spent on extending Skytrain along the Fraser Highway, it is time to consider a more cost-effective service that serves far more people over a much longer distance at lower cost. For less than $1.5 Billion dollars we can have a world-class transportation system connecting the entire South Fraser Region, not just Surrey to Langley. This is an existing right-of-way owned by the people of BC through BC Hydro so the huge cost of land acquisition is not required. When all is considered, reactivating the interurban represents the best way to provide the transportation options the Fraser Valley deserves. Join the initiative!
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