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Bikes on Rails

Cycle Therapy, June 2001 - Bikes on Rails Update - All gain, no pain
by Reuben Hamm

[Web Editor's Note: Unfortunately Pacific Wilderness Railway is no longer in operation...]

Starting this summer (June 1) cyclists will be able to load their bikes into a special baggage car on the Pacific Wilderness Railway and head to the Malahat Summit for a downhill run all the way back to Victoria!

This is the latest in a series of new developments at one of Vancouver Island's premier tourist attractions. The baggage car can handle more than 100 bikes and should be able to accommodate large tour groups.

The Pacific Wilderness Railway offers sight-seeing tours from Victoria's downtown station in restored vintage railcars. There are tunnels and two magnificent trestles both over 400 feet long and nearly 300 feet above the canyon floor! Enjoy the ambience and luxury of these restored railcars. It is an experience you will cherish forever. Other potential highlights of the coming tourist season include comprehensive ecotour narrated excursions, popular gourmet excursions, combinations with other tourist providers and exceptional photo opportunities through some of Canada's most beautiful country. During its first successful season last year, the PWR carried more than 20,000 passengers and anticipates doubling that number this year.

To this prairie-born Canadian, it is fascinating that two of the most interesting activities for a cycle touring buff centre around railways - the Galloping Goose Trail (a former railbed) and the options provided by Pacific Wilderness Railways.

Cycle Therapy, June 2000 Page 9 - Bikes on Rails Update
by Steve Koerner

The GVCC's campaign to have the Esquimalt & Nanaimo railway carry bicycles continues to gather momentum. Currently the railroad can-not carry bicycles or, for that matter, any type of large baggage. Moreover, it cannot carry wheelchairs or accommodate disabled people. On Sunday 14 May, GVCC Directors Brian Collier, Meagan Klaassen, Steve Koerner and Patrick O'Connor took the E & N ‘Dayliner'train service up to Nanaimo in order to attend a meeting with board members of the Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition. Also present were British Columbia Cycling Coalition President Francis Van Loon and Bruce Tunstall , Chairperson of the E & N Steering Committee.

The purpose for getting together was to have Bruce Tunstall brief us on the current state of the E & N's endangered passenger service which has suffered from years of neglect and funding cuts from VIA, the Federal Crown Corporation which operates it. He also outlined the situation with respect to the Pacific Wilderness rail-way excursion service, which is owned and operated by an American company and which will use the E & N roadbed. This railway will cater primarily to tourists and is scheduled to commence operations in June. The Pacific Wilderness service says it will be able to take bicycles, as it has a baggage car but, for the time being at least, will only go as far as Malahat Station.

After Bruce brought us up to date, participants at the meeting discussed various plans for how best to approach VIA. We hope to be able to arrange for a meeting with VIA management later on in the summer to explore ways of modifying the ‘Dayliner'railcars in order to enable them to carry bicycles.

We will keep the GVCC membership informed of events as they develop.

Background Information
Steve Koerner Interviewed by Ed J. Dyatt

Steve Koerner wants GVCC members to become more aware of the "Bikes on Rails" campaign which he helped initiate back in 1996. "This is a long-term project" he says, "and our whole membership can get involved in the months ahead."
Steve identifies three main shortcomings with the present VIA Rail Dayliner service:

1. There is no storage provision for bikes on the train.
2. Similarly, there is no place for wheelchairs or baby carriages, and just climbing on and off the train is difficult for the elderly.
3. A great opportunity for local tourism is being missed. Today's cyclists spend money on motels, Bed and Breakfasts, restaurants etc.

Now, in the year 2000, is there any good news to report?
"We're looking forward to a new service being initiated by a private operator this spring" says Steve, "but this will run only as far as the Malahat, and may have very limited facilities for bicycles."
So where do we go from here? Steve would like VIA Rail to explore three possible improvements to the existing service:

• If practical, mount bike racks on existing trains - similar to those on BC Transit buses. This would be a limited capacity, short term solution only, and would not meet the needs of 2. (above).
• Provide a baggage car, attached behind the present train. This would meet some of the needs identified above, but would not solve the physical difficulty of climbing on and off the existing carriages.
• Replace old 1950s equipment with modern trains that have built-in storage facilities, ease of access etc. and provide more reliable service. Then promote VIA as a natural extension of the Galloping Goose trail, giving cyclists and other tourists the link to Up-island tourist venues.

How can GVCC members help promote this vision? "Soon there will be opportunities for the whole membership to write letters and take other actions." Steve says. "In the meantime, board members will try to get together with VIA to discuss options. We'll keep you posted on progress."