Railways helped build Vancouver — Engine 374, which pulled the first transcontinental service into the city on May 23, 1887, sits in a glass pavilion at the Roundhouse (Davie Street and Pacific Boulevard, Downtown South) — and continue to play an important role in this province. Via Rail’s latter-day transcontinental service departs from Pacific Central Station (1150 Station Street, Central Vancouver, 800-561-8630, www.viarail.ca).
The Stanley Park Miniature Railway (604-257-8531), pulled by an exact replica of Engine 374, keeps chugging on. It runs a fifteen-minute summer train through the towering firs and cedars; a spooky Halloween train (much of October); and a glorious Christmas-time trip full of fun and twinkle (through December). The railway starts near the Stanley Park Dining Pavilion and picnic area off Pipeline Road. It’s pretty inexpensive.
Still on a tourist theme, the city and volunteers run a two-car Herit¬age Streetcar along the south shore of False Creek, between Quebec Street and Granville Island (Central Vancouver), on summer week¬ends. The idea is, in part, to launch the revival of a long-abandoned streetcar system that once ran throughout the city. While this is going to take some creative financing, the city has plans to extend this tour¬ist-oriented streetcar service down through Chinatown, with branch lines to the north shore of False Creek and across the inner city to Coal Harbour.
A more genuine rail service although serious railway types argue that the city’s ALRT (automated light rapid transit) system is a bloody poor excuse for a train — is the SkyTrain system (604-292-7900, www.rapidtransit.bc.ca). The original line connects North Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, and East Vancouver with the downtown peninsula. The newer Millennium Line takes a slightly different route from New Westminster, through Burnaby, and into Vancouver, termi¬nating, for the time being, at a mega-station near Broadway and Commercial Drive. Take the SkyTrain. It offers a backyard view of Vancouver and great panoramas of the eastern suburbs and Fraser River.
The West Coast Express is a spiffy commuter train that connects communities on the north shore of the Fraser River with downtown Vancouver. Unfortunately, it runs into the city in the morning and out in the late afternoon — not very accommodating to casual travelers. But, hey, it’s a train, and a pretty comfortable one at that. When the taxpayers of Vancouver learned that the massively subsidized service includes laptop plug-ins and cappuccino service, the envy ( and annoyance) was palpable. Suburbanites flocked to it, understand-ably. It departs from the Waterfront Station on West Cordova Street ( Downtown, 604-683-7245, www.westcoa5texpre5S.com.)
Future rail and SkyTrain connections remain contentious. Bottom line is that no one wants a rail line running through their backyard. However, as you read this, the city (and region) should be well along the path to approving some type of high-powered rail service between Vancouver and Richmond, and particularly to Vancouver International Airport.
Whether the new line runs down tree-blessed Cambie Street (redubbed “heritage boulevard” by politically savvy transit opponents) or the Arbutus corridor (built as a streetcar rail line and therefore ready to take the train) remains undecided. Cambie will likely be the choice, given its central location; the line will run mostly underground.
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