Island Corridor Foundation CEO Larry Stevenson wants to return freight service to Port Alberni, and this is a bad thing?
Until ill-considered actions by shippers and Rail America (the E&N’s operator at that time) caused the end of freight service to Port Alberni in December of 2001, “slow speed trains” carried 6,000-plus carloads of freight yearly out of that city. Untold tonnes of freight moving in and out of port on rails rather than rumbling over the Hump on public highways. This lucrative freight business subsidized the rest of E&N operations on Vancouver Island.
If Stevenson gets anything accomplished during his tenure as the ICF’s boss, reactivating this service would be a win-win for the E&N and the Island, economically and environmentally.
Jamie Masters
Saanich
