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LETTER: Via Rail Dayliner shutdown no surprise

To the Editor,

The safety shut down of the Dayliner is as expected. Prior to establishing schedule changes from a tourist service to a commuter service a stalling study had to be instigated. This when the Dayliner tourist traffic fell off due to global financial uncertainty and the resulting overall tourist decline.

Also the right-wing ideology of corporations these days is to milk the infrastructure dry rather then invest in maintenance. Present corporate practices are to run down and beg for grants of tax funds and tax concessions. It is popular to cry for tax backed infrastructure rebuild as a revenue device.

Thus it is easy to assume the corporate managers never had any intentions to convert to commuter service or they would have done so or had a trial pilot by now. With the Liberal legislative pot lash giving away the Public Commons and stripping resources and taxes off the backs of the BC public, it also follows that this is just another BC Liberal giveaway scheme.

Why not rework the rail contracts to include monthly maintenance budgets instead of letting the freight to beat the rail down.

Dee Shoolingin,

Duncan