The Canadian National Railway Company (CN) has declared its plan to decommission part of its railway line from north of the railyards in Squamish through to 100 Mile.
The railway is mandated to release its railway line plans to the government and the public, which it did on July 11.
Its three-year plan shows it'll decommission its “Squamish subdivision” of the railway line heading north of the District of Squamish to Lillooet—from mile marker 43.00 through to 157.60.
CN also released its intention to decommission the line from mile marker 157.60 to 257.00, which is on the Lillooet subdivision of the line that stretches past 100 Mile.
“CN provided official regulatory notice about a change to CN’s Three-Year Network Plan, initiating the discontinuance process for a portion of its rail network north of Squamish and south of Exeter in British Columbia,” the railway said in an emailed statement to The Squamish Chief.
“As a leading supply chain enabler, CN makes operational decisions in a manner that is beneficial to both our customers and our supply chain partners,” the statement continues.
“We prioritize transparency in our communications and decisions with all levels of government, key stakeholders, and our customers.”
What about Squamish Terminals?
According to CN, the rail line to Squamish Terminals is not included in the discontinuance, meaning it will be business as usual and no customers there will be impacted.
In response to a question about next steps, the spokesperson for CN referred The Squamish Chief to the discontinuance process set out by the Canadian Transportation Agency.
According to the agency, one year after the railway lists its intention to discontinue a line in its three-year plan, “the railway must publicly advertise the availability of the line or any operating interest the railway company has in it, for sale, lease or other transfer for the continued operations.”
Future for Rocky Mountaineer?
Asked about the discontinuance, Nicole Ford, vice-president of communications, sustainability and stakeholder relations at Rocky Mountaineer, told The Squamish Chief they are considering next steps.
“We are aware of CN Rail’s notice of discontinuance for a portion of the rail line on which we operate our Rainforest to Gold Rush route,” Ford said in an email.
“CN is responsible for maintaining the rail infrastructure along this route, including the rail, ties, bridges, and vegetation control. Without CN's management of the rail line, we will be unable to travel on the route,” she added.
“We are determining what this means for our longer-term operations in the region, but we look forward to operating the 2026 season of the Rainforest to Gold Rush route as scheduled.”
Government response
A spokesperson for the District of Squamish said the municipality was notified of the rail discontinuation from CN on July 11, 2025, “and have no further information to provide.”
The spokesperson referred The Squamish Chief back to CN.
Sea to Sky federal and provincial leaders were more enthusiastic in their response.
Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country Patrick Weiler told The Squamish Chief the discontinuance is “an exciting development,” especially combined with the provincial government’s promise of regional transit in the Sea to Sky.
“What really excites me is the potential for this corridor to be used for rail passenger transportation,” he said.
“Until about 23 years ago, [the corridor] had passenger rail service, and much has changed since then,” he noted.
“The region's grown by over 60% … You've seen the amount of folks in Metro Vancouver that are recreating in the Sea to Sky region has grown exponentially, and you've seen, even with an upgraded Highway 99, that it's already at capacity, and we're seeing frequent and oftentimes fatal incidents on it. So ... there's a major need for alternative transportation options,” he said, adding passenger rail is also another way for people to get out in an emergency.
He noted there are lots of complexities to adding rail, but that there is an opportunity to look at the feasibility of it.
“And to engage the public on what the future of this piece of infrastructure might be, and whether that's for passenger rail or otherwise,” he said.
“There would need to be an operator. We need to co-ordinate among governments, importantly, freight operators like Squamish Terminals, and freight does have priority and [co-ordinate with] First Nations.”
Jeremy Valeriote, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky said in a joint news release with Weiler that the CN discontinuance is “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take over a lease that has nearly 40 years remaining on it, and to restore the rail line for public use and benefit as it was before it was controversially privatized by the B.C. Liberal government in 2004.”
Weiler and Valeriote note in their release that from July 2026, interested parties will be able to take over the rail line segment from CN Rail for train services.
They add that in the event that there are no interested parties for continued operations, the segment will be offered for net salvage value to different levels of government in accordance with the Canada Transportation Act.
“This gives us a one-year window to build a business case, secure support from all levels of government, and make an offer to acquire the lease, via an operating entity,” said Valeriote.
Weiler also noted that the idea has been floated of having the decommissioned rail line converted to active transportation.
This is an idea that retired Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy, who lives in Pemberton, where he was previously mayor, and who served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of transportation and Infrastructure for a time, could get behind, too.
He said he could envision accommodations and food and bike services along the route that could become a massive tourist draw, if passenger rail isn’t feasible.
“Let's just pull up the tracks and put in a trail from here to Williams Lake. I mean, it could be a year-round trail at grade, globally renowned. Can you imagine riding your bike along the rail at grade … from Squamish … all the way north of Lillooet through the Fraser Canyon,” he said.
He said he is skeptical that the ultimate cost of passenger rail would make it feasible, but it is worth looking into.
“I was long an advocate of taking the 2002 rail assessment that was done for the Sea to Sky for the 2010 [Olympic] bid book, and reviewing it, modernizing it, and seeing if the conclusions are still valid. I tend to believe that they probably would be, just because we don't have the density of population that really supports this kind of of investment,” he said, adding that even back when that report was done, the cost was in the billions.
He said that the frequency of trains and number of stopping points would be key to making it competitive.
“A train, it is hard to be competitive, and they need to be moving a lot of people to justify it. But that said, let's dig out that old study and revisit it, and so people can see for themselves what the cost is going to be and whether it actually makes sense or not,” he said.
Ultimately, Valeriote and Weiler said they will be working closely with local governments and community leaders to explore every viable path forward.
“These kinds of decisions will shape our region for decades. If senior levels of government are serious about investing in infrastructure to create jobs and strengthen our economy, this is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss” said Valeriote.
The Squamish Chief reached out to the provincial government for comment and will add it to the story when it comes in.
