Cannot see it coming back. The rail base needs to be worked on. The ties are shot, would need to be replaced. We are talking huge money.

Keep the rail line for passenger service .

Who is going to pay for this

The E&N was incredibly slow and not very scenic when it was operating. I can’t see there would be much demand for this service these days.

not that much faster than a bc ferry horseshoe bay to departure bay is only 89 or 90 minutes and you get to bring your car as well. its a pain in the arse in Nanaimo. I don't think its gonna survive the summer

You forgot to mention that if people walk they are walking right into zombies literally everywhere

It was promised to be up and running 12 years ago

Mosaic, which owns/governs much of the E&N land grant, as parent company and owner of the forest companies directly cutting trees, is itself owned, in large part, by ‘B.C. Investment Management Corp’, which is the B.C. government employees pension plan. So in fact the stakeholders locking everybody on the Island out of those lands, is our own B.C. Government, by proxy. The people setting the rules Mosiac must follow, deciding cut volumes, environmental rules, exporting raw logs, making profits, and denying the public access to the lands, is the government itself. This is a massive conflict of interest hardly anybody seems to be aware of. Mosiac is only “private” in concept. Being owned by the BC government pension fund, it might as well be the government. Look it up and you will see.

They ain't gonna last

I live in the Comox valley and wholeheartedly agree the rail should be revived. Thanks for making this vid and watch out for those creepy trees.

Your “colonialism bad” shtick is so lame. Enough with the self hatred. Trains are dope and so is the history and construction of BC.

They might want to make the ship's name more prominent as people think that the ferry's name is HULLO. Her name is STHUQI. Strange name, hard to pronounce, meaningless to most except those in the know, hard to remember and unmemorable.

Somebody break up the criminal BC ferries monopoly

Not a good option for someone with mobility issues.

Didn’t know about this service, which might be very convinient for us. They now have a 7:30 pm service from Nanaimo. Since we don’t have a car, going directly to downtown Vancouver, and faster, is definitely a big plus for us.

Fun Fact: Those gates blocking access to the Vancouver Island back country are all opened by the same key ( for firefighting emergencies). I had a 'private' key back in the 80's and 90's....

Maybe if it doesn't run on damn batteries

It will fail.

The Bay Area Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transport (SMART) is a good model to use. Hourly service between cities.

I live in Victoria, and what this Island desperately needs is public transit other than buses. A commuter train from the West Shore and from Nanaimo would do wonders for BC's worst traffic.

With passenger and freight rail on the Island now a thing of the past, is BC now positioned to leave the Dominion?

So much pink emanating from the head, it's hard to know where the colon it's occupying begins.

Vancouver and Victoria have to cleanup their streets somehow. Luckily thanks to our leftist bleeding heart mayor and council they have Nanaimo to use as a toilet.

House them somewhere else Nanaimo has had enough of them dumped on us.

I used to take the train from Courtenay to Duncan for work every week in the early 90's.

Hopefully Hullo takes note and reads the comments. I agree with you, their ability to keep to their scheduled sailings is key. When I worked downtown Vancouver I could not believe the number of people commuting from Nanaimo daily. Hope they make it work.

Most people have absolutely no idea the costs of rebuilding this line. Just the bridges would bankrupt this province. Each mile, at least 2million. The best use for this land is to put a fresh water pipeline on it. That would make sense.

I remember the old fashioned (early 1900s passenger car) train that used stop near my grandmothers property in Chase River in the 70s and 80s. Its a very fond memory., Watching the train from the porch every morning at 10am in the summertime.

Unfortunately, the walking route shown in the video on the Nanaimo side seems to cut through private property, which I didn't think is accessible, so the actual walk--at least for me--is about twice as far. Fortunately--and as a recent, previous commenter has mentioned--Nanaimo BC Transit has a route out there now; I only noticed what were likely going to be the bus bays in the sidewalk when I took it, probably around the same time Ben took it for this video. I might try the service again in the next few months. P.S. Is the channel related to the Malaspina (VIU) student newspaper? P.S.S. Unfortunate to see a few awful comments here.

You spent about 3 seconds on the nub of the problem: the idea than tens of millions of dollars could bring any kind of rail to the island. Meanwhile in Ottawa they've managed to commission a mere 20km of usable functional rail for a cost of north of $4 BILLION dollars. In a place that is largely flat and close to industries that can construct such rail, supported by a city of over 1 million local residents and province of 15 million. The best the Island Corridor org can hope to produce is a hobby-tourist line running an antique train on 10km from downtown to Langford, a couple times a day, if they can scare up 25 million bucks for a totally non-functional transport rail system. Instead we should turn the corridor into a useful rails-to-trails route. Then when Nanaimo and Victoria each have populations of over a million residents we can justify building actual commuter quality frequent and good capacity rail system for 10 or 20 billion dollars, like you would find in NorthEast USA or Europe. So.. dream on but let us have a bike trail please, for now.

not enough brains on the island to get anything done

the dayliner, Halifax to Windsor N.S. ran in the 60's. it was awesome. go to the city in the morning and back for "supper"

I’d pay that for the same service between Victoria and Vancouver…why isn’t this offered between Victoria and Vancouver?

i hope so... bc ferries is a joke government monopoly

you assert that private is bad for no reason you assert that colonialism is bad, yet you want to keep the parts of it you like, or you think are convenient. Couldn't listen to you. You just sound like some brainwashed kid spouting lines he learned with his degree in modern nonsense.

Nanaimo is a sprawling city with an underutilizes downtown, it has a population density of 1,104/km2 which is pitiful even by North American standards, even on the island Victoria is 4x as densely populated, Duncan and sidney are more than 2x as populated. Nanaimo needs to build up not out as somehow a city of 100k is smaller less dense then a city of 10k

I had no idea there was a train on the Island in my lifetime. I live in Ontario and was out there on a canrail pass in 2000 - but don’t remember taking this. I took a bus from the North island where the ferry from Prince Rupert lands and took a bus to Nanaimo. :-(

Love to see a route to the islands and Tofino

Very similar to the situation in Langley right now with the West Creek Wetlands being threatened by development. Great work shining a light on this issue and I hope this ecosystem is protected.

Great Video. I know there are conversations ongoing and hopefully they will find a way to do what would be best for the Island. Our population is growing and the value of a modern practical rail service within an integrated transportation network is only going to increase. The evidence suggests that how our region develops in the coming decades will be changed dramatically by having rail. A continued focus on cars and trucks and more roads has been shown to lead to perpetual sprawl rapidly consuming our land base and degrading communities. A focus on passenger rail is one required ingredient for the smart growth that will lead to more compact, vibrant, equitable and prosperous communities and support the type of inter-urban travel that our interconnected larger region relies on. However, it is a change in mindset.

It’s hard to say what the future holds. I have been advocating for rail and transit on the island for close to 32 years and we are no closer to a solution now than we were 10 or 15 years ago

If there is enough foot traffic wanting to get to downtown Vancouver quickly it might survive. It is pretty much three hours to cross on a BC Ferry and then bus into downtown. If they make allowance for bicycles the ridership numbers should improve as well. Nanaimo has gone crazy making downtown bike friendly. It would be no more than a five minute ride from the Hullo terminal to downtown Nanaimo. Wish them success and look forward to trying them should we have something happening in downtown Vancouver.

You know what would be great? If the ministry of transportation invested into passenger ferries. Instead they focus on auto-centric BC ferries... Oh yeah, and BC Ferries gets their terminals leased to BC ferries for $1 a year. So good luck for anyone trying to compete...

Anything’s better the bc ferries.

It will fail like all the others! All the fast ferries underestimate the water conditions crossing the straight of Georgia, with can be brutally rough!

There is simply not enough business to support this. It won't last. Pity.

The big problem is everytime they want to bring it back they want the train to start in Victoria, then head N, then be back in Victoria by night. Good for tourists, bad for commuters who would actually use it reliably. Too much money, not enough density, bad management, bad engagement. An ignorant dream. Born, raised, and live on VI btw.

I lived on Vancouver Island for 10 years from 1991 to 2001. Island traffic at the time was horrific between Victoria and Courtney. But now in 2024 it is absolutley insane and the population increase goes with it. I do not recommend moving to the Island at anytime. Too crazy and the cost of living is over the top. For the long term, the potential of the big one (earthquake) is always a factor. Loss of life and chaos would be horrific. They are not prepared.

Thanks for the history and insights, well done!

If you think the land was "stolen" from the aboriginals, what gives you the right to go rebuilding a railway on it? Why do you think "reducing fares" was a simple matter to do? If there is a little piece of the railway right of way that is now owned by a Band, that ought to end forever any dream of reconciling with any other use of it.