Re: “Train: yay or nay!”
Quite different from the relative value of a good train service, I have no confidence whatsoever that the rail service on the Island can ever be successful.
The staggering cost involved will never be covered by its use, which means that it will be a giant albatross around the taxpayers’ necks until it fails again. The rail line is in such a state of disrepair that the cost of making it safe again, let alone the cost of running it efficiently, is far and beyond any number of dollars being talked about by ICF.
If and when it is ever is back in service, going in the right direction, with enough trips in a day to make it attractive to commuters, the ticket price, and the time it will take to take people to get to their destinations, including times to transfer to buses, will drive people back to their vehicles. As to freight, trucking and courier companies will be hard to beat.
I’ve maintained in the past, and still believe, that turning the entire rail bed into a walking/cycling trail would bring more economic spinoff from tourism than the train could provide at far less cost, not to mention the pleasure it would bring to the towns and villages that line the tracks.
Nothing is beyond salvage if one throws enough money at it, but, for my money, ICF is beating a dead Iron Horse.
Al Brunet
Shawnigan Lake