Building a shared vision for a rail corridor by integrating rail transportation, land use, First Nation, and community priorities

Cowichan Valley Regional District Island Rail Corridor

Island Rail Corridor, also known as the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (E&N) Railway, is a short line railway on Vancouver Island constructed in 1886. Over the past two decades, the corridor has largely fallen into disuse, with limited freight activity remaining near Wellcox in Nanaimo.

There is a critical need to establish a shared vision for its future given the complex history of land acquisition, the prolonged underuse of the corridor, unresolved First Nations legal matters, and the shared reconciliation commitments of British Columbia and Canada. The Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD), in partnership with Stantec, Modus, and Ki Squared, undertook a comprehensive visioning study to evaluate future uses of the corridor.

Approximately 71 kilometres (44 miles) of the corridor traverses the CVRD, including about 4.85 kilometres (3 miles) across First Nations reserve lands. Our team assessed both the short- and long-term suitability of options from land use and transportation perspectives. This included evaluating future uses of the corridor through the lenses of First Nations' interests, environmental impacts, and risks related to current and potential activities. We also examined rail, trail, combined rail-and-trail, and land reversion alternatives, providing comparative analysis, construction cost estimates, benefits, and recommendations to guide future decisions.

Additionally, we gathered extensive input from First Nations, key parties, the public, the Island Corridor Foundation, other regional districts, and the CVRD working group to further refine the analysis. As part of this process, we conducted a public open house and survey, which had 4,109 participants responding.

The study provides CVRD with construction cost estimates for each option, outlines their respective benefits, and provides recommendations regarding subsequent actions for the future of the rail corridor.