Victoria councillors are divided on where best to locate a new terminal for the E&N Rail station, should passenger service be restored to the line.
They will look to staff, the railway owner and the public before making any decision.
Some, like councillors Geoff Young and Ben Isitt, thought the new station should be as close to the new Johnson Street Bridge as possible, to shorten the distance to downtown and public transportation links.
Others, including councillors Shellie Gudgeon and Marianne Alto, said a new terminal could help reinvigorate Vic West as part of the Roundhouse development.
“The potential of revitalizing that area and those buildings in a way which would duplicate some of their original use and just bring some of that historical aspect to it [is exciting],” Alto said.
Designated a Canadian national historic site in 1992, the roundhouse has survived, virtually untouched, since its construction for the E&N Railway in 1912-13.
Gudgeon raised concerns about the impact a rail terminal could have on the planned green space to be created as a new approach to the bridge eliminates the existing S-curve.
While Isitt argued a new rail station did not have to be much more than a “glorified bus stop” with little impact on future green space, Gudgeon disagreed.
“I don’t believe it will just be a platform. It will need access. It will need asphalt. It will need roads,” she said.
“This will be a transportation hub because our downtown is not on lower Johnson [Street] across the bridge.
“Our downtown is much farther afield and they’ll need transportation options on a rainy day in order to get to those places if we truly want this to become a well-used commuter line.”
In a report to council, city staff identified three potential sites:
• Mary Street: A temporary site could be found on one of several smaller lots owned by the Island Corridor Foundation, south of Esquimalt Road between Mary and Catherine streets. (Estimated walking time to the intersection of Johnson Street and Wharf Street, on the other side of the bridge, is 20 to 25 minutes.)
• Roundhouse: Bounded by Esquimalt Road, Sitkum Road, Saghalie Road, Kitma Road and Catherine Street, the site is owned by Focus Equities. Preliminary discussions suggest that if a station were to be located there, the owner would prefer it to be in the northwest corner. (Estimated walking time to Johnson and Wharf streets is 15 to 20 minutes.)
• Johnson Street Bridge west green space (site of the former S-curve): The train could stop at the west side of the intersection of Esquimalt and Harbour roads, where the tracks currently end, or the tracks could be extended toward the harbour. (Walking time to Johnson and Wharf streets is five to seven minutes.)
Councillors asked staff for more information about what a terminal near the bridge might look like.
They also want to know from the Island Corridor Foundation, which owns the rail corridor, what a revived service on the line might look like.
“Is it commuter rail or is it a train once a day? We can’t possibly make any decision until we know that,” said Coun. Lisa Helps.
“We need to know what their short-term plan is and what their long-term plan is and respond accordingly.”
The railroad line runs from Victoria north to Courtenay. Passenger service was halted in 2011 because of concerns over the condition of the tracks.
City officials closed the Johnson Street Bridge to rail traffic in April 2011 after engineers discovered corrosion damage to key structural supports.
While a rail right of way has been preserved, a rail crossing was not included as part of the Johnson Street Bridge replacement as a cost-saving measure.
Meanwhile, Doug Routley, NDP MLA for Nanaimo/North Cowichan, is calling for more transparency in the ownership and management of the E&N.
“The railway’s a very essential asset as a sustainable transportation feature for this Island. We want to see it preserved, renewed and thriving and that is possible,” Routley said.
“We need to see a more transparent and accountable governance model and management performance.”
Routley said it’s hard to believe it has taken three years to have service agreements renewed with Via Rail to get passenger service back up and running.
“The whole thing of getting Via to agree to train service agreements that are already in place seems a little bit like renewing marriage vows.
“They’ve stated for a long time that they’re fully prepared to come back, that the train service agreement is still in place, but they need the track to be brought to a standard that’s safe,” he said.
“So we see these repeated promises of a marriage vow renewal ceremony that never quite materializes.”
