(The Vancouver Sun published the following story by Bruce Constantineau on its website on September 15.)
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Vancouver-based Whistler Rail Tours and Via Rail are close to a deal that will see the two sides try to resurrect passenger rail service on the BC Rail line from Vancouver to Whistler, Via representative Joe Volk said Friday.
Whistler Rail would provide the rail cars while Via would operate and maintain the service, he said.
“We’re close to signing a letter of intent to work together on providing and operating rail services,” said Volk, director of western services for Via Rail.
BC Rail shut down its tourism and passenger services last year because the operations lost money. The closures involved the Pacific Starlight Dinner Train, the Whistler Northwind and the Cariboo Prospector.
(The Pacific Starlight was sold this week to a U.S. firm for an undisclosed price. The deal will close within 90 days.)
The B.C. government is looking to sell the BC Rail freight operations and the short list of four possible buyers includes Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, RailAmerica and a partnership between OmniTRAX and Burlington Northern.
The government has stipulated the new freight operator must accommodate commercially viable third-party passenger services so any new passenger service would have to negotiate a track access deal with the winning bidder.
Volk said the proposed new Vancouver-Whistler operation would be a combination tourism/passenger service starting in 2005 with four different price levels. He hopes the service could eventually expand north to Prince George so passengers could link up with Via’s popular Skeena line that runs between Prince Rupert and Jasper.
“We would really like to see that but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen unless we have the proper market conditions,” Volk said.
He noted that the tourism industry has suffered recently from SARS and the war in Iraq but feels tourism is due to bounce back.
“I feel there is very strong support for this type of initiative, especially leading up to the 2010 Olympic Games,” Volk said. “Interest in the area should really be growing by the time we’re ready to start.”
The proposed Vancouver-Whistler rail service would promote itself heavily to Alaska-bound cruise ship passengers. One of the partners in Whistler Rail Tours is Michael Drever, who runs cruise vacation specialist CruiseShipCenters.
John Haibeck, another partner in Whistler Rail Tours, noted that Prince Rupert will open a new cruise ship terminal next year and the facility will attract 36 sailings next season.
“We’d like to offer round-trip packages for people who could cruise into Prince Rupert and then take the train back,” he said.
Haibeck is part of a development group that wants to build a new hotel and rail station near Nita Lake in Whistler, with completion scheduled for December 2004.
He said Whistler Rail Tours plans to start the $20-million Vancouver-to-Whistler rail venture with four new domed rail cars it wants to buy from the Colorado Railcar Manufacturing Company.