The track has been quiet since last July when the last operator, Kelowna Pacific Railway, went into receivership.

"We've put up our website which people have been emailing us at," says Clements, an Okanagan College professor and avid cyclist. "So to date, we've got over 3,000 emails of support. People are saying, no, we do need to protect this."

“CN submits that an investment of up to $10M would be required to upgrade this line and allow CN to operate. CN claims that it would suffer the greater prejudice if it had to incur such an expense, considering that Ashland’s traffic volume does justify the investment,” states a summation of CN’s case prepared by the Canadian Transportation Agency.

The company has 40 to 50 employees most based in Vernon.