[Laurent]

Hi everyone!

I'm in charge of imports in a Montreal company and all our goods from Asia transit through the port of Vancouver. As you may know there's a lot of congestion there at different stages in the rail network, and it's hard for me (and other companies too) to understand where the congestion is and different times of the season (and thus where we can go by to bypass the worst of it) when our freight forwarders talk to us about it.

Therefore, to get a clearer picture of the commercial rail network (not the urban/passenger rail network, skytrain, etc.) in the Vancouver area (incl. the Port of course), we are looking for a map of that rail network.

Does anyone know where I can find such a map? And if not, does anyone know where I can find a forum on railroads in Canada (kinda like this forum deals with skyscrapers)?

Thanks a lot for the help guys!! Much appreicated!! :tup: :cheers:

[SpongeG]

there is really only way in and out because of the mountains and there is maybe 1 or 2 rail bridges to get into Vancouver - the on in New West is always busy and backed up often

[SpongeG]

maybe this will help - has a map that shows the two lines - the CN and the CP

http://bcchamber.org/files/PDF/CN_-_Peter_Marshall.pdf

[cornholio]

You can see the rail network on google maps but I dont see the importance of it as the intermodal yard is the important part. As far as congestion goes the worst of it at the port of vancouver and in the lowermainland is usually around now, september to early december, and to a extent late january. Basicly late september to ealy december is the busiest time because of christmas and the holidays combined with winter, the rest of the times are mainly due to the change of seasons coming up and small influx of goods coming through several months before, so before spring, summer, winter. Now obviously the worst congestion happens when there is strike somwhere or a railroad derailment or landslide along the rail line, thats when you get huge backups and it can take months to realy catch up...that realy is the only serious problem with our rail infrastructure because there is not enough extra capacity to handle a increase in volume and the rail companies generarly dont want to invest money in to expanding it because its not profitabel to them.

[Laurent]

Wow, thanks for the map and all the info SpongeG and cornholio. Its all well noted and much appreciated!!

[mezzanine]

My non-expert, GVRD-centric response:

Assuming that your goods come by container, the main terminal, deltaport, has rail service that runs through langley city, at grade. 20 years ago this was less of a problem as there was much less growth in langley, and less rail traffic to deltaport, but now it is a huge headache.

The CP line to the south shore (blue, on page 7 of the pdf) has better grade separation of the track, I would assume this would lead to more reliable transit, but i can't confirm this... This track leads to centerm and vanterm, FYI.

The BNSF line (yellow, page 5) has poor grade separation, and runs through busy neighbourhoods with multiple at-grade crossings, in addition to a lift bridge across the fraser. I believe the city of vancouver limits the times and lengths of trains feeding in here. This route also goes to vanterm/centerm.

[Laurent]

Thanks for the info mezzanine.

The Centerm terminal has about 1/2 the congestion time than the Vanterm or Deltaport terminals, so that's the one I use the most. And based on your info, it seems it's best that I pass the goods from Centerm trough the CP (blue) line rather than the BNSF (yellow) line. Well noted!

Thanks again!

[mattropolis]

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8008/cn2000lrg20fn.jpg

Here's an image I found

[Policy Wonk]

I probably shouldn't be uploading this, but for what we paid for it...
http://download248.mediafire.com/fzj2m0jwzmng/5kynjzmtjyg/vancouver+rail.pdf

[fever]

Is that spur off the BNSF line in Burnaby still there?

[mattropolis]

no, they tore that spur track up.

[officedweller]

Thanks PW - that map looks more up to date.

[Policy Wonk]

That set of maps is pretty good, although the colour coded track isn't consistant from map to map beyond blue and red for CN and CP Rail and the US railways aren't always reflected in the legend even though their track is plotted and with some of the smaller networks, ie VTR and NECR are two very small US railways, and in the case of NECR you might get the impression they are affiliated with CTX from the map as they share the same colour plot and CTX is on the legend and NECR isn't.

[Laurent]

Thanks for the maps Mattropolis and Policy Wonk! Great detail.

Strange thing though: We can't see the Centerm terminal on any of these maps though . . . ? I know it's there (it's just West of Vanterm - between Vanterm and Centennial Pier -> it's shown on interactive maps in the Port of Vancouver website), I just don't understand why these rail maps don't show Centerm . . . maybe it's 'cause it's new, or maybe it's considered part of Vanterm, or maybe it's just considered small or probably just not relevant enough for the purposes of the mapmaker making these maps in question . .

Anyway, with all these maps, everything is much clearer! Thanks a lot guys! :tup::tup: