See the article below from the Province today. To see MP John Cummins document visit our website
www.valtac.org Our website has been updated over the last few days with tons of info on the Roberts Bank Rail Corridor announcement of last week...
www.valtac.org
THE FRASER VALLEY
MP pushing electric freight-only rail line
Brian Lewis
John Cummins is confident he’s found a way to keep Deltaport’s planned expansion on track to accommodate increased Asia-Pacific trade — but with far less negative impact on local communities than some of the current Gateway initiatives.
And a key element in the maverick Delta-Richmond East MP’s solution is simply to get down on your knees and play with the concept of electric trains.
Rather than move growing numbers of shipping containers through an expanding Deltaport on trucks and conventional trains that dissect densely populated parts of Delta, Surrey and the two Langleys, Cummins proposes a dedicated electrified freight-only rail line from Deltaport to Abbotsford that could be confined primarily to industrial areas. His proposal is outlined in a special four-page report titled Better Way For Gateway Project, which the Tory MP is distributing widely throughout the region.
Where the current rail route runs from Deltaport through East Ladner, South Surrey, Cloverdale and Langley City and Township, Cummins’ electrified rail route from the port connects with the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe line that parallels Highway 91 to the Alex Fraser Bridge. From there it would tunnel underneath North Delta near Nordel Way, then run past Fraser Surrey Docks to connect with the CN mainline near the Port Mann Bridge.
Not only does this route remove freight and coal-train traffic from the region’s community cores, but the Cummins proposal also advocates intermodal loading and offloading facilities along the route, thus lessening the need for significantly increased container-truck traffic and container storage facilities near core residential areas.
Furthermore, removing freight rail traffic from the existing tracks would allow them to be used exclusively for light-rail interurban transit up the Fraser Valley.
“Electrified rail is quieter and it doesn’t pollute,” he says, “and this route would also remove any immediate need for the $1-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road.”
His plan is based on a $6-billion project now under way in the Netherlands, where a 160-kilometre double-track, electrified freightonly rail line is being built to connect the Dutch superport of Rotterdam to Germany.
“The idea in Holland is to minimize the impact on people and I think that here the Asia Pacific Gateway Corridor project needs to make the same commitment to putting the interests of people first,” Cummins explains.
Among the current Gateway initiatives the proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road will pave over significant amounts of Delta farmland, encroach on environmentally sensitive Burns Bog and is already forcing hundreds of residents and businesses off their properties while the port expansion will also lead to establishing a major rail yard near Ladner and dramatically increase truck and rail traffic through regional residential and town centres.
However, Cummins admits that his plan is only a concept at this point so costing has yet to be done, but some of the region’s mayors who have been briefed by the MP say it’s worth more study.
“On a map the idea looks good but you really need to drill much deeper to see if it’s practical, feasible and affordable,” says Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender. OK, then let’s drill.
blewis@png.canwest.com
MP John Cummins to speak in Langley Saturday August 11
Hovercrafts are real. Other options include tank, zamboni, camels (used for getting around in other parts of the earth) elephants (also used for transportation of both people and goods in other regions on the globe). The latter 2 examples cost less than 6 billion and give off fewer although smellier emissions. 
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