7 May 2009
MLAs Support Rail Deal Renewal
Langley British Columbia - A contract that keeps
the right for passenger rail on the tracks through Langley is up for renewal in just a few months, Langley Township Mayor Rick Green
revealed this week. Green said he recently got a look at the Master Agreement signed by BC Hydro, which owns the right of way, and
CPR, which bought the tracks and the right to run trains there.
The deal was signed in 1988, and Green said it is for a 21-year term, to expire in August. The deal guarantees BC Hydro,
a Crown Corporation owned by the province, the right to run passenger service on the route. Although public press releases in the
1980s noted the right existed, the contract has been kept confidential since then.
"It's the people's rights, and it has to be protected," said Green. Now Green is encouraging the Township council, other
mayors, and the local candidates for MLA, to all support the renewal of the agreement and protect passenger rail rights. The mayor
revealed some of the details to the rest of council at Monday's afternoon special meeting. The entire document couldn't be released
publicly.
"This is a free right of way," Green noted. That means that CPR, although it owns the tracks, can't charge BC Hydro a fee to
run a passenger rail line there. Councillor Charlie Fox agrees the agreement should be renewed.
"There's a level of urgency," Fox said, because of the pending deadline. Those running for provincial political office also
came out in favour of renewing the deal.
"Because we stand for a comprehensive light rail transit system for the South Fraser region, we will be very interested in any
options that become available to us," said NDP candidate for Langley Kathleen Stephany, "including Crown use of the
interurban corridor and the Canadian Pacific Railway rails through Langley."
"This route remains very important to the people of the South Fraser despite BC Hydro no longer being in the rail business,"
said Liberal Langley candidate Mary Polak. BC Hydro spokesperson Dag Sharman said the power company does want the agreement to
continue.
"We do intend to renew the agreement with CP Rail," Sharman said. Advocates for light rail in Langley and Surrey,
particularly the Valley Transportation Advisory Committee (VALTAC) have long suggested that a light rail line could be put in place
along what is now part of the Roberts Bank Rail Corridor. The rail corridor is owned by BC Hydro because it was originally an electric
tram route - Langley got its first electrical power from the tram system.
The trams stopped running in the early 1950s. Eric Bysouth, a VALTAC member, said some members have seen copies of the agreement but
they don't want to release it either, as it's considered confidential.
"We're in favour of it being renewed," Bysouth said. According to Bysouth, the agreement says up to 33 percent of all
traffic on the rails can be passenger traffic, although Green couldn't confirm that. Nathan Pachal of the South Fraser OnTrax group
said in the past, he had only known the passenger rights were protected because of press releases from the 1980s.
"We hope the passenger rights are preserved, of course," he said. In the long term, Green said he wants to know if the
Master Agreement and the provision for passenger rail can help limit the growth of heavy freight rail traffic through Langley.
With the Deltaport expanding in the very near future, the number of trains through Langley is expected to increase. A $400,000 study
of light rail possibilities in the Fraser Valley is currently underway. The study mainly looks at Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, and
other FVRD cities, but is also mandated to look at a rail link through to Surrey.
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