Lillooet mayor renews call to restore rail service between North Vancouver and Prince George
'We feel we are being neglected by the government,' says Marg Lampman
It has been 16 years since B.C. had a rail service that ran from North Vancouver to Prince George, but Lillooet Mayor Marg Lampman is hoping to change that.
Lampman has put forward a resolution to look at the feasibility of the route, which will be debated at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention next week.
"That train service was our link to other parts of the province,"said Lampman. "When that was stopped it was a real hardship on our business community and on our residents."
In 2016, Lampman unsuccessfully lobbied the provincial government to have the route restored.
Along the previous route, passengers could stop at communities like Lillooet — a Gold Country town in the heart of the southern Interior — and shop at the local stores. Lampman says business had to shut down when the service was decommissioned.
"[The train] used to stay for three hours, so people could get out and walk around town and visit the stores, then get back on the train," she said.
Rail service cut in 2002
Most of B.C.'s rail operations ended in 2002 when the Liberal government of the day claimed the service was losing $10 million a year.
Lampman argues that times have changed. She says there is a renewed interest in "green" transportation and getting commuters off highways — the only current means of getting to her town, she says.
She said she's been in touch with passenger rail transport company VIA Rail and thinks they are ideally suited to the task, as they already have a terminal in operation in Prince George.
Lampman added that a new rail line could be an economic boon to the province by opening up more rural regions to tourism.
"We feel we are being neglected by the government because we are not being provided with a B.C. transit system," she said.
The Union of B.C. Municipalities convention takes place in Whistler Sept. 10-14.
With files from On the Coast