To the editor,
Re: Train tracks will be needed in the future, Letters, July 13.
The letter writers are on the right track regarding the rail line and the future of transportation on the Island.
You just have to look south to Victoria and the mess they’ve made, when over 30 years ago I signed a petition wanting passenger service to Langford-Colwood. The powers that be at the time said there wasn’t enough population to warrant it. Go out there now. It’s a city with all the infrastructure they need. I don’t recognize it from when I was growing up. Now they’ve added lanes, overpasses, underpasses yet still have the Colwood Crawl. Peak hours are a nightmare just like Vancouver.
I really hope this won’t happen to the rest of the Island. Already traffic has increased since we moved here 13 years ago. Having travelled abroad, people think nothing of getting on and off trains. Unless you live in a rural area, why are Canadians so fixed on vehicle travel? Think of the cost alone now in upgrading highways, owning a car (insurance, fuel, maintenance) fewer vehicle accidents would occur and people would get from point A to point B in faster time.
Theresa Kowall, Ladysmith
To the editor,
Re: Train tracks will be needed in the future, Letters, July 13.
At 85 years old, hiking and cycling are no longer an option and whatever age, there will be others who would love to be able to ride the rails to different parts of the Island so why can’t we share?
It would also seem to me that it would be greener to cut back on trucks and move our goods by rail.
Pat Portsmouth, Nanaimo