Railway key to sustainable growth
My late father, who’d lived with his family on southern Vancouver Island since 1919, once told me that, during his life there had been four railways in the area; the woodburning steam railway between Victoria and Sidney, the Interurban from Victoria to the Deep Cove Chalet (he’d ridden the last train), the CN and the E & N.
In his later years, this conservative and very open-minded gentleman realized and stated that we’d regressed relative to most of the world in this regard.
Seeing, now, the extent to which Duncan and even Nanaimo have become bedroom communities for commutes to Victoria, I believe that saving, restoring, and possibly extending, the rail corridor of the Esquimault and Nanaimo Railway as a commuter line is essential for future sustainable growth.
While I do not object to some of my tax dollars going towards the Malahat expansion, I want, for my children and grandchildren’s sake at LEAST equivalent expenditure on more sustainable, safer, and climate-sensible transportation such as commuter rail.
Peter Lake
Duncan