Well, as things appear to be gaining steam on Vancouver Island, I thought it might be time to have a thread to follow any progress, post news and items of interest.

For those of you unfamiliar with the train line, here's some background info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_and_N_Railway

http://blog.valtac.org/2008/03/vancouver-island-rail.html

The owner of the right of way, the Island Corridor Foundation, has formed a coalition with municipalities and First Nations groups on the island and called it the Our Corridor Coalition. They have recently released a business report in an attempt to attract Federal and Provincial funds.

http://www.ourcorridor.ca/

The Feds are likely to give some cash under their program to fund short-line railways in Canada, while so far BC has given the typical Kevin Falcon response: "more studies needed".

Just so my bias here is clear: I think we need a fast commuter line on the island about 10 years ago. People don't realize the speed and convenience of rail until they've had the chance to use a really good system, and I'm convinced once there's a good train line on the island it will become to core of our transportation system and land use decisions, providing a comprehensive feeder system is built around it.

It's a great chance, because as the link above states: "80% of the population on Vancouver Island is within 5km of the line."

So if you hear anything, have insider news, or just want to comment, please do.

I took the E&N once. It was very scenic but my god it was like travelling in a cargo car.
No service, no food/pop machines, very slow, loud, uncomfortable.
VIA also goes out of its way to make it hard to use. It runs twice a day one in the morning and one in the evening. The first train leaves Vidtoia Comox bound. It should be the other way around for people who want to get to Victoria for the day and return in the evening.
It could be used for LRT in Greater victoria and LRT/Commuter rail in the Ladysmith/Nanaimo/Parksville corridor. A population of 160,000. The line hugs the trans-canada with all the malls and downtown and close to Malispina University/College.

This is why people west of Windsor get pissed when they hear about more funding for VIA from the feds. VIA is not our national passenger rail but rather a Windsor/Quebec City train.
They don't even use the line from Hope to Vancouver, the E&N, and offer no service to Regina or Calgary. You can't even get from Calgary to Edmonton on the train.