Stanley Park Train will be off the rails for 2025
Park board says it’s lost nearly $3M to the attraction in last 5 years, is considering 3rd-party proposals
It'll be another year off the rails for the popular Stanley Park Train ride, with park board staff citing safety concerns and the hefty costs of running the attraction.
The train saw over 90,000 visitors in 2024 before it was derailed indefinitely on Dec. 13, after one of the train's drivers needed medical attention, having fallen ill due to exhaust from one of the train's locomotives.
Now, staff say it won't be running in 2025, either.
In its various iterations — such as the Halloween-themed Ghost Train and the Christmas event Bright Nights in the Park — the train has been a popular draw for families.
Around 23,000 tickets were snapped up within 90 minutes of sale for the Bright Nights event in 2023, the first following a two-year hiatus.
But on Monday, Vancouver Park Board staff revealed the future of the train is in jeopardy as the attraction has lost them hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
"Taken together, there are a host of risks associated with the Stanley Park Train right now," said John Brodie, the director of business services for the park board.
He said those risks include the safety of operators, the financial burden and the reputational damage to the park board, given the regular closures of the train.
The official said staff estimated the train would lose the park board $700,000 this year, and it had lost nearly $3 million in the last five years.
Park board staff said they had received a series of third-party proposals, regarding sponsoring or donating to the train, which could change the ride's appeal to be more centred around tourists.
"There's a lot of interest from external partners to reimagine the Stanley Park Train site," Brodie said. "It's in a prime location in one of the premier parks in the world."
Staff said that maintaining the existing model — of the park board operating and maintaining the train — would provide the lowest financial upside of all the business models that they assessed.
However, much remains up in the air about the future of the train.
Park board staff are expected to report back to the board in 2026 on its options regarding third-party investment and ticket prices after consulting with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
Long list of closures
The Stanley Park Train ride has taken a winding track to its latest yearlong closure.
It was first cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing restrictions being implemented.
Then, in 2021, a rash of coyote attacks in Stanley Park prompted the train's cancellation in October due to safety concerns, but it ran later in December.
In 2022, the attraction was called off after the train failed a safety inspection, with the city saying that mechanical issues were affecting the antique engines and passenger cars, and supply chain issues meant new parts were difficult to procure.
Steve Jackson, general manager of the city's park board, said in March that the park board's best option to keep the attraction viable would be to electrify.
"Our assets are old; our attempts to repair, modify, have proven to not be successful, and so we'll have to explore these longer-term decisions with our board," he said at the time.
The park board says the combustion engines on the locomotives are more than 50 years old. Park board staff estimate it would cost at least $7.7 million to electrify the train and maintain the status quo.
Jackson had said that the biggest problem with the set of four locomotives used last year was that the gauge of the track is narrower than modern track gauges.
"The manufacturer that produced these engines actually does produce an electric locomotive. It's on a 24-inch gauge," he said in March. "We are running a 20-inch gauge.
"So in order to use their assets, we would actually have to wholesale replace the entire asset here, track and engines."
Jackson said that staff would eventually look to the public to weigh in on the future of the ride.
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