The District of Lillooet is renewing its calls for the province to re-establish passenger rail service to the isolated northern community.
Mayor Laurie Hopfl secured the support of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District at its Feb. 29 board meeting by asking them a letter of support in efforts to lobby the province.
“Public transportation is a serious impediment for thousands of residents living within the B.C. Interior,” wrote Hopfl in a letter to the SLRD.
“With the cessation of passenger rail service serving communities between North Vancouver to Prince George in 2002, not only is direct access to medical care, social opportunities in major centres and family visits not possible, but tourism has also declined.”
Lillooet also lost its only public transportation link to Whistler earlier this year, when the Owl Bus formally ceased operations.
Speaking to her letter at the SLRD meeting, Hopfl said “the need is definitely great” for transportation links.
During discussion, SLRD director Jenna Stoner queried the viability of a rail link, citing previous studies into high-speed rail along the Sea to Sky corridor as the reason for any hesitation on her part.
“All the research we’ve done for this … the rail track isn’t up to scale anymore for passenger service, or it would be extremely slow.
“My understanding is that it’s not doable on the tracks that we have.”
Hopfl said the Rocky Mountaineer uses the tracks between Vancouver and Lillooet and on to the Interior, and BC Hydro is even considering using a “rail bus” to transport workers between Lillooet and Seton Portage for various long-term infrastructure projects in the area.
She added it is the District of Lillooet’s intention to just keep asking.
“If we don’t touch on these initiatives it will never happen,” she said.
“We’re hoping that with ongoing interest and year after year of asking, that they’ll look at this as a feasible study.”
Lillooet has long campaigned for the re-establishment of rail links—previous Mayor Marg Lampman made formal requests through the Union of BC Municipalities in 2018 in the lead-up to a cessation of Greyhound Bus services in Western Canada, while the District of Squamish made similar requests in 2016.
Hopfl’s request was supported by Area C Director Russell Mack, who said the tracks linking Lillooet to Vancouver are good to go.
“Rocky Mountaineer uses this track … it’s perfectly safe and usable,” he said. “CN keeps it safe and usable in case they need it in an emergency.”
He added while high-speed rail is unlikely, a passenger service would be possible.
The link from Lillooet through the Sea to Sky towards Vancouver is leased by CN Rail, and acts as a secondary link from the Interior to the Lower Mainland for freight being moved to and from ports in Vancouver. CN Rail’s primary lines to ports are through the Fraser Canyon—a link that was cut, along with lines owned by CPKC Rail, in 2021 following the atmospheric river event in November of that year.
CN previously increased its freight traffic along the corridor due to wildfires in the Fraser Canyon.
The SLRD board voted unanimously to support the District of Lillooet in its calls for the provincial government and the Ministry of Transportation to re-establish a passenger rail service, and Hopfl said the District is considering expanding its ask to other municipalities along the corridor.
