KELOWNA — The City of Kelowna is mulling its options should freight train service not be restored to the community.
The trains recently stopped running between Vernon and Kelowna after the Kelowna Pacific Railway went bankrupt.
That has caused concern some Kelowna companies that rely on trains to ship product and supplies could lay off employees or even shut down.
Kelowna’s Director of Real Estate & Building Services, Doug Gilchrist, says they hope some other company will come forward to take over the rail line operations.
Barring that, the city would like the rail corridor protected for other uses.
“Certainly some form of multi-modal transportation network would be ideal whether bike, pedestrian or perhaps someday in the long term some other form of rail or vehicle traffic,” says Gilchrist.
Another possibility is the city purchasing a portion of the rail corridor but that likely won’t happen without funding assistance from senior levels of government.
Gilchrist says something that definitely won’t happen is Kelowna getting into the rail business.
“Absolutely not. That’s not anywhere near a core business for municipalities and it’s not appropriate to risk taxpayer dollars to operate a rail line that’s proven to be largely unsuccessful in recent years.”
Firms interested in taking over the line have until December 2nd to say so to the Canadian Transportation Agency. After that, CN Rail could put the land up for sale.
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