The Province of BC has committed $500K to investigate the feasibility of commuter rail on the E&N line, and appears to be considering it not just in a Greater Victoria context but in a broader Southern Vancouver Island viewpoint.
Media reports indicate that the Province believes it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, a stark contrast to the $16 million that some had predicted could get a bare-bones service up and running on the line. The broader scope of the province’s proposed study could explain some of that difference, but not all of it. Differences of opinion on how much it would cost, and how popular it might be, have been a regular fixture in the debate on local commuter rail proposals for many years. With luck, this study will be authoritative on this point and will set a benchmark that all sides of the debate can agree on.
