I support protecting the Island Rail Corridor and planning for its return as part of an integrated transportation network. Esquimalt should account for rail now through its Official Community Plan, land-use decisions and regional partnerships, while supporting a practical first phase between the West Shore and Esquimalt/Victoria.
Vancouver Island rail should be a priority, but supporting the idea is not enough. We need to protect the corridor, complete the work required for reconciliation-based governance and land agreements, and make planning decisions now that preserve a realistic path to implementation. The longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive that becomes.
There is encouraging support for restoring rail, including the work underway through the Reconciliation Corridor Initiative. The Island Corridor Foundation warned in its April 27, 2026 letter that the municipal election creates a “natural risk that momentum built to date could be lost or diluted through transition.” That is a fair concern. Clear participation from the federal and provincial governments is important, but local governments also have decisions to make now.
Esquimalt’s upcoming Official Community Plan work is one of those opportunities. Zoning, development patterns, transit-exchange locations and infrastructure investments can either support future rail or create barriers that later have to be removed at considerable public expense. If rail is treated as an afterthought, we may approve land uses and infrastructure that make it harder to introduce. If it is included in long-term planning now, we can protect the space, connections and supporting infrastructure it will need.
Rail also cannot be planned in isolation. A useful transportation system must connect rail with buses, walking and cycling routes, trails and other local transportation options. During my travels, I have seen how well this can work when each part of the system is designed to support the others. The goal should be a network that is affordable, reliable, comfortable and convenient enough that leaving the car at home becomes the easier choice.
This requires an island-wide perspective and cooperation among First Nations, municipalities, regional districts and both senior levels of government. It does not mean that every section of the corridor must use the same service or be restored at the same time. Geography and transportation needs differ across communities. Different rail services may make sense on different parts of the corridor.
I support a phased approach, beginning with a costed and deliverable passenger service between the West Shore and Esquimalt/Victoria, while protecting the full corridor for future expansion. A manageable first phase is more likely to attract funding and government commitments, address an immediate regional transportation need and demonstrate whether the service can work. It also preserves the larger opportunity instead of requiring the entire Island-wide system to be solved before anything can begin.
We also need to be honest about the consequences of removing the existing rail infrastructure. There would be direct costs for removing rails, ties, signals and related equipment, as well as potential environmental remediation and complicated legal consequences involving multiple owners, governments and First Nations. The less visible cost is the loss of future value. Once infrastructure is removed and the corridor is fragmented, restoring rail becomes substantially harder and more expensive.
That does not mean no part of the corridor can ever change. It means that removal should not be treated as a simple maintenance or trail decision. It could be a lasting decision about whether an integrated Island-wide transportation system remains possible. Before taking that step, the financial, environmental, legal and reconciliation implications would need to be fully understood.
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