Two companies bidding on the line to date
At least two companies will be vying for the chance to bring a passenger rail train from Vancouver to Whistler and beyond.
Whistler Railtours and the Great Canadian Railtour Company were very excited with Tuesday’s announcement that there will be a request for proposals (RFP) from BC Rail and CN to develop new passenger train services in B.C.
But the companies aren’t the only ones excited about the chance to revive passenger rail service in the corridor.
"It’s been one of the goals on council for many, many years," said Mayor Hugh O’Reilly.
"Reliable consistent service that gives an alternative to cars is just supportive of our overall strategy within the corridor."
The passenger RFP was part of the $1 billion package deal to lease the BC Rail lines to the freight rail company CN. The deal was announced this week by Premier Gordon Campbell.
Prior to the announcement of the deal with CN there was a worry that the passenger rail component would be pushed out of the mix.
"We had a fear that freight companies such as CN had no interest in providing track access to passenger companies because they don’t mix that well," said John Haibeck, chief executive officer with Whistler Railtours, who was excited about the proposal call for passenger rail.
"Freight companies would like to have just freight trains on there so I kept saying to the government ‘look do you honestly think that one of these freight companies is going to give us the time of day.’...They just want unfettered access to those tracks.
"We’re saying ‘just a second, there’s other people besides box cars that need to be on those tracks.’"
He said Whistler Railtours commissioned a KPMG study, which showed the viability of passenger rail service.
Based on the their business plan, Whistler Railtours identifies 1,285 new jobs and tourism spending of $70 million that would be generated by the introduction of a year-round passenger and tourist rail service in the first year alone.
Haibeck has been talking about passenger train service to Whistler for about two years now. His proposal goes hand in hand with the Nita Lake Lodge development recently approved by Whistler council, which will see a boutique lodge and a multi-million dollar train station built in Creekside.
But Haibeck isn’t the only one interested in bidding on the rights for passenger rail travel in the Sea to Sky corridor.
The Great Canadian Railtour Company, which operates the Rocky Mountaineer, is also proposing a passenger train to operate on the BC Rail lines.
"This is a very exciting time for Rocky Mountaineer," said Graham Gilley, vice president of marketing and communications with Rocky Mountaineer Railtours after the RFP announcement on Tuesday.
"This route matches the spectacular scenery that we find on our other routes... It’s expansion of our brand."
Each rail company has their own unique angle for a revitalized passenger service.
GCRC proposes to bring a passenger tourist train to the BC Rail lines, much like the Rocky Mountaineer.
"What we know best is tourism and if it involves tourism and trains it is something that we are likely to be interested in," said Gilley.
"After 14 year as a private operator we have grown to become North America’s largest privately owned passenger rail service and we like to think that we have unique qualifications to showcase British Columbia to our market around the world."
Gilley said GCRC will propose two routes in the RFP process. One would operate between Whistler and Vancouver and would be called the Whistler Mountaineer. The second route would be an extension of the Rocky Mountaineer service, operating from Whistler to Prince George and then on to Jasper, where the train would connect to the rest of the GCRC service.
"So it’s a natural extension and acts as an important feeder route into the Whistler market."
Whistler Railtours also envisions a luxury tourist train coming up the track from Vancouver to Whistler. At the same time, Haibeck said there is another crucial component to their proposal – passenger/commuter service. This service became more viable after Whistler Railtours partnered with VIA Rail earlier this year.
"We think we’re the only ones that can offer a passenger service... given the fact that VIA is Canada’s largest and oldest passenger rail company and that’s their main business," said Haibeck.
"Given their long history of serving the communities (on the Skeena route between Jasper, Prince George and Prince Rupert)... they operate what we call the multiple level service. It’s a tourist service but it’s also a passenger service. The service is point to point so you can get from one town to another, which is good for the local people."
Haibeck sees a tourist train that would primarily cater to the cruise ship market coming through Vancouver. But the service would also offer fares and stops for commuters along the BC Rail line.
Gilley is skeptical that two companies could operate similar businesses on the same line.
"If the two services were going after the same market it would be difficult to make a success out of it," he said, adding that it took Rocky Mountaineer four years to make a profit.
"Passenger rail is a very difficult and complex business. It’s highly labour intensive and capital intensive. It requires a great deal of commitment to the marketplace to develop the market. It just doesn’t happen overnight, especially in the tourism area.
"So we have to be careful and say how many companies could operate the same type of business on this line because it is a very complex business and it would be very difficult to share that business."
The difficulties in providing passenger rail, among many other things, forced the province to take a hard look at BC Rail’s operations, which were costing taxpayers millions of dollars every year.
This week CN was chosen as the new private partner coming in with a $1 billion payment to operate the lines for the next 60 years.
In addition to looking at passenger rail companies, the deal also includes new revenue sources for municipalities in the province.
Whistler could get $56,000 in tax revenues from CN, more that double what the municipality received from BC Rail in 2003. Likewise the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District could get about $500,000 in tax revenues, which is a nine-fold increase from BC Rail payments in 2003.
"That’s a windfall to the regional district that they’ve never had before so it might help with some of the issues in the corridor," said O’Reilly.
The mayor was also pleased with the promise that CN will ensure rail alternatives to move people during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"Those are all the right signals and obviously working through them and making them operational is another thing, but this messaging that’s coming out right away looks pretty positive," he said.
"As long as they deliver, I think people are going to turn around and look back and say this is a good decision."
There are critics of the deal, like NDP leader Carole James who said the Liberals have handed over control without any guarantees after five years. She said after that time there are no promises that lines won’t be eliminated and fees will not be raised.
In the meantime at least two rail companies will be working on their proposals and will await a decision from BC Rail and CN.
Each said if all goes according to plan there could be passenger service in the corridor by 2005.
