Dear editor,
We were pleased to hear that Jack Peake has formed the ENRR (E&N Railway Roundtable) group in order to bring together interested parties in a proper examination of the feasibility of incorporating a trail into the E&N corridor.
Friends of Rails to Trails, Vancouver Island has taken the position that this is not only a costly way of using the corridor for a trail system, but ultimately can only deliver a fragmented trail. The 2009 report by Lanarc Consultants, for example, enumerates over 40 sections of the corridor in the RDN alone where sharing the right of way is simply not possible.
That is a major but only one of several reasons FORT-VI is promoting a continuous, near level all purpose, non-motorized recreational trail extending from the Galloping Goose to Courtenay and to Port Alberni as the best public use of the rail bed.
Mr Peake’s new organization suggests a possibility for consideration of all options – rail only, rail with trail, and trail only – with both short- and long-term cost projections, clarification of the benefits and realistic timelines — in a thorough, transparent and fact-based examination.
Realistic, fact business planning is lacking on all sides of the E&N corridor debate. FORT-VI has acknowledged Mr. Peake’s open invitation to co-operate in such a thorough and transparent examination.
Denise Savoie
Comox Valley