VITCC (Vancouver Island Transportation Corridor Coalition)
We need your help!
The Vancouver Island Transportation Corridor Coalition (VITCC) is focused on its stated mandate to facilitate restoration, revitalization, and enhancement of all rail infrastructure on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as the core infrastructure of a future transportation system to move people and freight
Our position is that Vancouver Island cannot sustain itself without key infrastructure and that plight is being ignored. Every year traffic grows worse as more people move to our island and the current approach of building more roads only leads to more GHG emissions. Vancouver Island needs a better long-term transportation strategy.
Rail can move people and goods much more efficiently than vehicles. Commuter rail between the Westhills area and downtown Victoria alone could take tens of thousands of cars off the road, ensuring our highways also remain viable transportation options. All major cities worldwide eventually have had to adopt rail. The costs of retrofitting rail into an existing city is VERY expensive, as Vancouver recently found out. We already have an uninterrupted and continuous nearly 300km corridor already intact! This piece of land is an Island asset we cannot afford to lose or replace. It exists, let's use it!
Victoria is blessed to have not one, but two existing rail right-of-ways. One is and shall remain a human corridor for people. The former E+N (now officially named the "Island Rail Corridor") has already been transformed into a hybrid system with over 100 kilometers of parallel rails-with-trails to facilitate the integration of other forms of transportation.
VITCC envisions an outcome with rail as the backbone of a system that integrates with ALL other forms of transportation. Rail, cycling, buses, taxis, airports, and ferries are just a few of the interlinked transportation options that can integrate and work together as a functional transportation network.
How can you help?
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Please sign this petition - Every individual's help will go a long way to providing momentum with the media, politicians, and the various stakeholders within the Vancouver Island corridor.
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Share this petition - You can use this link to include in Emails, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc: https://bit.ly/32z5VpE
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Get Involved - Sign up as a member of the VITCC at https://www.vitcc.ca/
308 Comments
Population is starting to boom. Hwy 19/19A/1/4 are already busy with truck and passenger traffic. Let’s be proactive and get the existing infrastructure to use. The Malahat, Cowichan and Oceanside sections of the highways are a vulnerable areas subjected to regular flooding. Bring back rail.
My company could utilize rail to bring our manufactured product to market.
Modern train is not only green as public transit, but holds enormous potential to draw tourism from Victoria.
I want to be able to take the train up and down the island! I took the train from victoria to duncan once in 2010 before it closed permanently and wish I had the opportunity to do the full trip. I do not own a car due to cost and an eye condition that makes driving difficult. I wish that our region had public transport on par with Europe, China and other nations. Electrified rail networks are a climate change solution that improve quality of living and are certainly worth the investment. A functional, modern rail line is part of my vision for the island. It needs the investment to make it an appealing and convenient option for island citizens. The population of the island has rapidly increased over the past ten years and continues to grow. I believe if an island rail line is built and scheduled properly, many people will use it.
We need inter-city transportation on our Island so that every citizen can have frequent and safe travel; this includes those who can not afford or are not able to drive.
thats it!
Rail-based travel is the right infrastructure to build and support!
I believe in rail being the answer
Rail is just better and its a travesty that we let it die
Rail is an excellent choice in providing efficient, clean transportation for passengers and freight. More than ever we need an alternative to our strained highways.