By revitalizing the corridor we would be reconnecting Courtenay to Victoria and Port Alberni to Parksville with an entirely separate transportation corridor that connects people to cities, towns, sea ports, and airports.
This rail line runs past some of the most congested highway sections and cuts through the mountainous terrain of Vancouver island. Reopening it would benefit the communities along the corridor, and with over 800,000 people living nearby, the potential impact is massive.
The corridor is a strategic transportation asset, a climate-resilient alternative to highways, a platform for tourism and local mobility, and critical infrastructure for emergency services, utilities, forestry, and freight.
Its value lies not in a single use, but in its ability to serve multiple public needs within one protected right-of-way.
With trail integration, it would support biking and walking up and down the island, giving active transportation a boost too!
The best time to start rebuilding was 20 years ago, the second best time is now!
Hopefully you can see that if everyone in the Vancouver Island region used it just once, we would have a ridership of over 1 million. That's just once! The latest 2025 report from Stantec shows demand that could fill 13 three car trains with ridership rising from 1.73 million after inception to over 4 million in less than 20 years.
Sign the petition to support Restoring Island Rail, because once it's gone it's gone for good, and so is our chance of having inter-city and inner-city rail on the island in the future.
Imagine getting to the airport by train and leaving all the car-worries behind when you travel. I just came back from Toronto by air and had the pleasure of using the UP Express Train that brings you from Union Station to the Toronto International Airport. It was bliss! But we on Vancouver Island are missing this experience.
In a council meeting 8th Oct 2024, Dave Devana, President and CEO of the Nanaimo Airport, presented to the RDN the very real fact that the Airport could reduce parking and better enable access to the airport should rail return to Vancouver Island.
The business case just keeps getting better and better with time. It's also the least expensive time to restore and improve it.
With growing instability and unpredictability in the United States, Canada can’t afford to rely on shared corridors for critical movement of goods. Right now, key marine access points like the Haro Strait and Boundary Pass are international waterways. That means they’re shared with the U.S. and increasingly subject to delays, inspections, and incidents involving U.S. border enforcement.
We’re already seeing more friction. And when your supply chain depends on another country’s jurisdiction, that’s a vulnerability, this is where Vancouver Island becomes strategically important.
The Alberni Inlet is a deep, sheltered, Canadian-controlled waterway capable of handling Panamax-sized vessels. It represents a fully domestic maritime gateway on the west coast.
If the rail line to Port Alberni were restored with modernized track and rebuilt bridges, Canada would have a continuous, secure corridor.
Ships arriving entirely within Canadian waters with direct transfer to rail represents efficient movement of goods across Vancouver Island and beyond.
At a time when global trade is shifting and geopolitical tensions are rising, investing in redundant, sovereign infrastructure is a prudent move.
The B.C. Government released a Freight assessment conducted with Vancouver Island and Vancouver businesses. Benefits for both Vancouver Island and Vancouver were found!
Read the Freight report here:
Key points are:
Primary Study Findings
• There are many opportunities for freight rail traffic on Vancouver Island that could be realized with significantly less investment than previous studies have identified.
• These opportunities would shift many truck trips to rail, both on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland, providing a range of benefits. • Developing a rail connection to Duke Point would provide synergetic benefits for the area and the Island Rail Corridor.
• Stakeholders agreed that maintaining the Island Rail Corridor is important to the overall resiliency of the Island, given its limited highway network
Let's re-plant Vancouver Island's transportation Tree so we can all enjoy the fruits of our ancestors labour.
Imagine an intercity
right of passage train that
gets you to work, school, or appointments on time, and
home for dinner!
Could it get your kids and you
to sports and leisure facilities
up and down the island
Safely!
inexpensively!
independently?
only $200 per month
fully integrated with
other transit systems!
Family passes
check
Seniors passes
check
Disabled passes
Check
It's like another road,
but called rail!
We can't keep procrastinating on Climate action.
Establishing Rapid Transit is
Climate Action!
by getting
older polluting cars off the road
and creates the opportunity for
High Impact Electrification
for even
More Climate Action!
To make the BEST use of this
Vancouver Island Treasure
and take some real climate action!
Protect the 289km, pre-graded,
Vancouver Island Rail Corridor!
Create inexpensive access to cheaper living areas for struggling Vancouver Islander's, create the potential for high-impact electrification and the prevention of environmental damage in the future by preventing the need to create new or expanded highways due to population growth.
And everyone has felt it!
Your paycheck doesn't go as far
so you take fewer Sunday Drives,
buy less food,
forgo the car repairs,
socialize less!
buy less
Business costs are rising
sales are slow
so retail prices get raised
Life costs more...
Your paycheck doesn't go as far
And round and round we go!
I have no team, it's just me.
but lots of other
dedicated Vancouver Islanders
that saw the site started sharing information with me, that I would have never known otherwise!
I've been on the receiving end of all my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, email, text's, and polls.
If I round the ratio of
Happy to Angry
to the nearest whole Person,
Happy sentiment
wins by a landslide
Everyone easily sees what the Vancouver Island Rail Corridor Represents
I think our leaders do too
Incorporated on September 27, 1883, the construction of the Vancouver Island Rail Corridor is not without controversy, but the one thing we can all agree on is that Vancouver Island ancestors, from many many cultural backgrounds shed blood, sweat and tears to build it! Laying 289km of level track up and down a rocky island during that time is no feat that should go unrecognized for the amazing achievement that it is!
It should not be left to languish when it is needed more and more every passing year.
Honour their sacrifices! Update the history books, and provide access for prosperity along the route.
Once it's gone, it's gone!
