Ottawa to fund multi-million reno of Vancouver train station
 

Ottawa to fund multi-million reno of Vancouver train station

Vancouver’s heritage train station is getting a $5.1-million renovation.

The Pacific Central Station used by VIA Rail is getting the majority of the funding, which was announced Monday, from the federal government’s Economic Action Plan.

After a tender is issued, work is expected to begin in 2011 on the station’s masonry, roof and windows.

The station is also used by bus companies, the Rocky Mountaineer luxury train, and by Amtrak for its service from the U.S.

Rob Merrifield, the Minister of State for Transport, represented the federal government at the announcement.

“This major project to upgrade Vancouver Station underlines our government’s commitment to improving VIA facilities and infrastructure and revitalizing Canada’s rail service,” Merrifield said in a release.

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Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Ottawa+fu...#ixzz14joxubME

Cool... maybe next will be the New West bridge to GET to the station.

Doesn't the Rocky Mountaineer use the Rocky Mountaineer Station????

Yup - they fixed up a service building at some expense. I'd be surprised if they left it for the old station.

I love this station, it's a great piece of history as well as infrastructure (it's too bad we lost the more impressive building that used to be next door) and seeing it properly maintained is good.

Now all they need to do is have more uses for the station. Maybe they should look at ways of having regular Via rail service from Vancouver eastward. Just the Canadian doesn't really cut it. It would be nice to have regular daily service to and from Kamloops and points in between, or from Downtown up to Whistler.

What building used to be next door?

And what exactly will they be doing to the station?

And commuter rail from there to the valley. I agree about the building too. It's a great piece of history and in a better location (visibly) than Waterfront station. Vancouver's Grand Central.

It's like Penn Station vs. Grand Central. Penn handling more trains for the region while Grand Central being the big airy heritage building (but it still has a lots of connections)

I don't think the demand is there. I take the Canadian every summer and only like 5-10 people out of like 200 get off.
Maybe if they increased service to until Edmonton and put a train back on CPR rail until Calgary.
Plus driving or taking bus from Kamloops is two times faster then the train.
So unless you want a crown service losing money, I dont think that will happen until the time improves and gasoline is super high.
There was another station next door that was torn down.


Also does anyone know who owns Pacific Central? I think it might be Via rail itself.9

Here's info on Union Station:

http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/union_station.html

http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/gr...c_exterior.jpg

http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/gr...c_interior.jpg

More here:

http://www.wcra.org/features/station-street.htm

1965 just before demolition:

http://www.wcra.org/features/images/station2.jpg
by Grant Ferguson
http://www.wcra.org/features/station-street.htm

Union Station definitely had a more impressive, stately interior. It is too bad that the ceiling in the main hall of Pacific Central is so low. The same goes for the main hall of Waterfront Station. What could have been a great, lofty arc of space (like the one in Union Station in Toronto) is used for offices.

If they have that kind of money to pretty up the station, how about if they put it towards customs and waiving Amtrak of the ridiculous fee that they intend to charge them for the second daily train?

Such a shame losing Union Station, especially since there is nothing currently sitting there. Speaking of which, has anything been there since? What was the reason for demolition in the first place?

CN owned both stations and only needed one.

You wanna see tragedy? Check out New York's original Pennsylvania station. It'll make you cry.

After plans for a science museum fell through, Great Northern didn't want to continue paying taxes on the building and demolished it. A real shame.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. :( Too bad, because anything would look better than the big vacant lot in its place.

...at least the Feds are funding something...

I guess there was no such thing as "heritage" back then. A real shame.

I admit, I haven't been to the train station, but I have gone past it several times on Skytrain. Too bad it wasn't better connected to the rest of the transit system. I traveled around Europe some time ago and was impressed by the way everything was so interconnected: the airport was connected to the rail line, and the bus lines, etc. Here in Vancouver, until the Canada Line was constructed, the airport was disconnected from Skytrain, the Greyhound bus station sat by itself somewhere else, the train station was somewhere else again, etc. It was a real hassle transferring on and off the bus/taxi/Skytrain.

It would be nice if some of that money could somehow be used to improve the interconnectivity of the systems.

It's right next to an inner-city Skytrain station and a busy articulated bus line - pretty well connected to the transit system if you ask me.