South Fraser OnTrax believes that the key to sustainable transportation is a great transportation system, and a great transportation system needs light rail.

The South Fraser is in a unique position. It has a rail corridor that connects all of the major community centers, industrial areas, shopping areas, colleges and universities, and airports. It’s called the Interurban.


This line was in operation from 1910 until 1950 and fostered agricultural, residential and industrial growth for the South Fraser.

The Interurban is what settled the South Fraser and that is why many commercial, educational, and recreational facilities are today within walking distance of the line. The line was viable in the 1950’s when the Valley had a population of 77,000, and it would be viable today.

South Fraser OnTrax believes that getting the Interurban services restarted should be a high priority for all levels of government, and is our highest priority in advocacy.

Today, the Interurban line still exists and carries local freight a few times a day. Since the BC Provincial government still owns the right-of-way and passenger rights through BC Hydro, getting the service up and running would be relatively easy.


Why Use the Interurban Corridor?

Cheap to Build

The City of Surrey commissioned a report stating that getting a minimal-service diesel light rail system running from Scott Road SkyTrain to Langley Centre would cost $200 million. Translink commissioned a report for a deluxe system from Scott Road to Langley Centre for a cost of $700 million.

To put that into perspective:

Interurban Line:
Translink Report: Deluxe Electric LRT: $27,000,000/km
Surrey Report: Diesel LRT: $6,000,000/km

SkyTrain(ish) Line:
Canada Line: $105,000,000/km
Evergreen Line: $127,000,000/km
UBC Line: $233,000,000/km

The average cost to build a light rail system in North America is about $35,000,000/km.

  
Density

The Interurban line runs through the most dense areas in the South Fraser and southern BC. The following population density map is from the planning office at the City of Surrey. It is based on current data and was produced in 2008.



Some background information: Surrey and Langley contain both very urban and very rural areas. When you look at the population density of all of Surrey or Langley, it appears to be lower than the rest of the region. What the smart planning people did at the City of Surrey was to exclude the agricultural land reserves, regional parks, and rural areas when they took their measurements. Once all the “open space” is removed, there are more people per square kilometer in Surrey than Burnaby. Even with the flood plain in the City of Langley, it has about the same population density as Burnaby.

Here’s the Breakdown of People per Square Km:
New Westminster: 3,899
Surrey: 2,428
Burnaby: 2,387
Langley, City: 2,309.1
Calgary: 2,114

Here’s the Breakdown of Population (2008):
New Westminster: 58,549
Surrey: 394,976
Burnaby: 202,799
Langley, City: 23,606
Calgary: 988,193

Here’s the Breakdown of Km’s of Rail Transit:
New Westminster: 8km
Surrey: 5km
Burnaby: 15km
Langley, City: 0km
Calgary: 44.8km

Rail Quota (Km’s of Rail Transit/Population x 10,000):
New Westminster: 1.37
Surrey: 0.13
Burnaby: 0.74
Langley, City: 0
Calgary: 0.45


Goes Where People Go

The Interurban line goes through key industrial, high employment areas by Newton and Gloucester Estates; residential areas like Sullivan Heights and Willlowbrook; major colleges such as Kwantlen and universities like TWU; key transit interchanges like Nordel Crossing/Scott Road, Newton Town Centre, Langley Town Centre; commercial areas, most notably the Langley Regional Town Centre, Downtown Chilliwack, the Sardis shopping area, Downtown Abbotsford, the Sumas Way shopping area; and near both the Langley and Abbotsford airports.

 
The Interurban line would be Community Rail, which is different than Commuter Rail. Studies show that the majority of the South Fraser population is headed for destinations within the sub-region. Community Rail, dedicated to linking local communities with only an incidental link to SkyTrain, would offer low cost, grass roots passenger transport which would be the spine of an effective integrated bus/light rail system. A recent TransLink Trip Diaries Report shows that only 20% of traffic in the South Fraser crosses the river while 80% has origin and destination south of the Fraser River. Also, about 30% of the “moving” population does not have access to private motor vehicles. A Community Rail system supplies the largest demand most effectively.


One Small Challenge

On the most difficult stretch of the Interurban rail, the link between Pratt and Livingstone, where heavy rail shares the route from west of Fort Langley to Cloverdale, BC Hyrdo has retained passenger rights and the right to assign them. Passenger rail doesn’t pay cost until it reaches 33% of wheelage which is a lot of passenger trains. CP has already agreed to sharing their rights with passenger service.