(The Canadian Press circulated the following story by James Keller on June 2, 2009.)
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Canadian border agency says it will charge an American passenger rail service more than half a million dollars in fees to add another train between Seattle and Vancouver – a decision that has derailed the plan.
Amtrak Cascades, which is funded by the Washington state government, planned to add a second daily run to and from Vancouver beginning in August of last year, continuing through to the 2010 Winter Olympics and beyond.
But Washington’s Transportation Department says the proposal stalled when Canada Border Services Agency demanded $1,500 a day – more than $500,000 a year – to pay for extra staff to process passengers.
The agency has said it will waive the fee immediately before, during and after the Olympics, but governments in Washington state and British Columbia want the agency to cancel the fee altogether for a service supporters say could add millions of tourism dollars to the local economy.
“It’s not a fee that’s charged to any transportation program, no one else is being charged this fee,” Vickie Sheehan of the Washington Department of Transportation said in an interview Tuesday.
“It’s a big anticipated thing that wasn’t planned for, so it’s just been a monkey wrench.”
Currently, an Amtrak train departs from Seattle in the morning and leaves Vancouver in the evening.
The proposed second run would leave Seattle at night, and bring passengers back from Vancouver in the morning. The additional run would also mean direct service to Vancouver all the way from Eugene, Ore.
The Canada Border Services Agency doesn’t charge additional fees to process passengers on the current run but, says Sheehan, the agency argues it would need to bring in extra staff for the evening crossing into B.C.
Sheehan said her department understands the agency will need to add staff, but she said the rail service can’t go ahead unless the fees are waived.
“Amtrak can’t pay the fee, and the Department of Transportation in Washington can’t pay the fee,” she said. “It’s a big impact.”
Washington and B.C. are currently in negotiation with the Canada Border Services Agency, which defended the fee.
“The CBSA must take into account the costs of providing additional resources to clear travellers outside of its core hours of service,” agency spokeswoman Patrizia Giolti said in an email.
Last year, the B.C. government spent $4.5 million upgrading rail infrastructure specifically to accommodate the second Seattle-Vancouver run.
The Transportation Department estimates the added service could bring an extra 50,000 passengers a year to British Columbia, adding $14 million to the province’s economy.
During the Olympics, Amtrak plans to use the second run, along with added cars on both trips, to handle the influx of people heading to and from the Games.
Politicians in Vancouver also want the fee dropped.
City councillor Suzanne Anton brought forward a motion Tuesday asking the agency waive the hefty fee against Amtrak.
Anton, who puts the value of the added service at as much as $30 million to the local economy, said the issue should be a no-brainer.
“You really have to look at it as the broader economic argument for the whole region,” said Anton, who expected her motion to pass unanimously
“It’s kind of ridiculous that the train is being held up like this. There’s no sense to it at all.”
Stephen Pearce of Tourism Vancouver said the agency should at least waive the fee on a trial basis for a year and then evaluate the impact on the B.C. economy.
“It would give us so much more flexibility in terms of being able to book trips to Vancouver,” said Pearce. “The impact would be substantial for us as a community.”