Quote:
Originally Posted by BCPhil
I haven't been on it, but the train would go past my place in White Rock (east end) about an hour to 1h30m after scheduled departure time. It's not that bad when taking transit to go Downtown to White Rock historical Station takes about 1h 45m. Driving takes 45minutes on a much more direct route; if you were to drive across the Pattullo it could easily take over an hour.
The travel time would be improved if the train didn't slow down as much as it does through the White Rock waterfront. The freight trains that go through there don't slow down nearly as much (actually they don't slow down at all). But the Amtrak crawls through there. Also it seems to slow down quite a bit when it crosses the old trestle over the Boundary Bay mud flats.
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I heard a blurb somewhere that the BNSF was fencing the track through White Rock in order to block tourists from crossing it anywhere.
When that's complete, train speeds will rise along that segment.
What I'm curious about is whether or not White Rock or Surrey could essentially bar the railway access, and force BNSF to re-route somewhere through the ALR to the east of South Surrey.
How it is today is just idiotic, and there used to be a railline from Blaine directly to Cloverdale along 176 Street back in the 1920s.