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LETTER: There’s no future for rail on Vancouver Island, says writer

Bus service can’t keep up, why would rail, asks Duncan resident
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The Cowichan Valley Museum, located in the Duncan train station (pictured), will see better heating and cooling as a result of winning the grand prize of $50,000 in National Trust for Canada’s “Next Great Save” competition sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance. (Courtesy of the Cowichan Valley Museum)

To the Editor,

Re: Momentum building to revive Island’s rail, Letters, March 1, 2023.

I disagree with letter writer Chris Alemany that there is a future to continue with a Vancouver Island Railway. Why? The Island bus service operated by the Wilson’s Group has been suspended until May of this year because of too low of a ridership. And BC Transit is currently operating a Duncan to Nanaimo service with eight trips per day. Last stop is Duncan on the return trip and buses are arriving empty to reload with a trip back to Nanaimo.

In the past, when the Island Railway was operating as far as Courtenay, the service was not profitable, thus the outrageous passenger fares that were being charged. The federal government will be making their final decision about the future of the railway, and that decision will be that the Island Railway will become part of history. Gone forever. Common sense always prevails.

Joe Sawchuk,

Duncan