Mountaineer plans Whistler stop


Tuesday, November 11th, 2003

Passenger-service proposal includes using dome cars on the rail route from Vancouver

Jim Jamieson
Province

Great Canadian Railtours sees a profit in offering a ride with a view.

Great Canadian Railtour Co., owners and operators of the Rocky Mountaineer, has put itself in the running to operate passenger rail service between Vancouver and Whistler.

The Vancouver-based company, which specializes in rail tours through Canada‘s West and the Canadian Rockies, announced yesterday they are prepared to operate two new passenger-rail services along the B.C. Rail route.

The proposed Whistler Mountaineer service would operate between Vancouver and Whistler, utilizing a locomotive train with dome cars.

An additional service, departing from Whistler, would use Prince George as an overnight stop for travellers and extend the current Rocky Mountaineer network along the B.C. Rail and CN routes to Jasper.

This route would include a self-propelled dome car.

The proposal indicated that provided all approvals are obtained prior to Dec. 31, 2003, north and southbound service along both routes would commence as early as 2005.

“We’ve made our intentions known to B.C. Rail and the government that we would be extremely interested in showcasing B.C. through this model,” said Great Canadian Railtour spokesman Graham Gilley.

“But we are sitting on the sidelines and letting the RFP [Request For Proposals] take its process. If an operator is declared, we will work with them.”

The B.C. government issued an RFP for private operators for publically owned B.C. Rails on May 15.

The short list of four possible buyers includes Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and a partnership between OmniTRAX and Burlington Northern.

The B.C. government has said it hopes to have a private company in place to operate B.C. Rail by the end of the year under a long-term lease. B.C. Rail terminated its passenger service last year because it lost money, but Gilley said his company is confident it can make a financial go of it.

“We recognize the need to be creative,” he said. “We have an established distribution network and have been in business 14 years with an established brand.”

Tourism Vancouver spokesman Paul Vallee said any improvements to the transportation link between Vancouver and Whistler adds to the marketing value of the Lower Mainland.

“It’s one of those things we can throw into our promotional mix when we’re out there selling this part of the world,” he said. “It’s a spectacular trip and rail tourism is gaining in popularity.” Rocky Mountaineer Railtours offers two-day, all daylight rail tours between Vancouver and Jasper, Banff and Calgary, including over 60 independent package tours of the region.

In August, Whistler Rail Tours of Vancouver announced it is partnering with Via Rail in the hopes of launching a luxury tourist-rail service to Whistler, also starting in 2005.

© Copyright  2003 The Province



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