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Commuter rail line essential for Island

Re: Passenger rail back on track, June 30.

To the Editor,

Re: Passenger rail back on track, June 30.

It is not enough for Premier Christy Clark to state that it’s “really important for people on the Island to have a passenger service for tourists, but also for freight.”

This statement omits the most serious need, that it is absolutely essential that there be a rapid transit commuter line connecting the upper Island with Victoria.

Since there is currently a plan afloat for building a rail transit line from Langford to Victoria, it would appear to be the optimum time for holding talks with the directors of that project with an eye to amalgamating the two systems by making use of the existing rail lines.

Since the cost of appropriating land and building a new rail system will be astronomical, the savings made by utilizing  these rails are too great to be ignored.

When the government makes pronouncements about the importance of being environmentally progressive, one would think they would embrace the opportunity to take thousands of cars off the highway on a daily basis.

One can only hope that executive egos of the two systems will not impede a serious look at such an amalgamation.

D. Custock

Nanaimo