Township Mayor Rick Green at Monday's council meeting informed his Council of:
"Today, May 4,2009, I am providing Council with the following information relating to the history and protection of our old Interurban Passenger and freight Rail Corridor through the Township and City of Langley."
He further told Council:
"This agreement expires on August 29,2009. Therefore, in order to preserve the rights of BC Hydro and the public I am requesting the support of the Township Council to send a letter to B.C. Hydro requesting their immediate response and assurance that they will renew the Agreement in question prior to August 29,2009."
KUDOS especially to Mayor Rick Green and his Council for supporting their Mayor and endorsing his request on Monday's council meeting to renew the agreement to protect the old Interurban Passenger Rail agreement through the Langley's!
After asking the local MLA election candidates for their support too: "We are asking for
your public support of the Master Agreement's renewal...", the local Langley NDP issued the below Press Release on the topic today to the media which also included LFP, and LFP did not receive any other local candidates' or political parties responses to date:
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2009
NDP WILL PRESERVE RAIL AGREEMENT
Langley – Yesterday Mayor Rick Green and his council released a memorandum referring to the ‘long lost’ Master Agreement, which not only defines some land use arrangements between the Province, Municipality and the Railway, but also ensured 33% of the traffic on the line for crown use. In exchange, the CPR is allowed to build rails and use 66% of the rail capacity on the provincially owned land.
“Gordon Campbell has made a mess of transit in the Lower Mainland,” said Stephany. “The BC Liberal plan is an unfunded wish list. It won’t get more people out of their cars, won’t make transit more convenient and it won’t make transit more affordable.”
The NDP will stand behind planning for a comprehensive light rail transit system serving the South Fraser region. It will be closely integrated with the bus and SkyTrain systems. The plan will review options including the interurban passenger rail route.
“Because we stand for a comprehensive light rail transit system for the South Fraser region, we will be very interested in any options that become available to us, including crown use of the interurban corridor and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) rails through Langley,” said Stephany.
In a letter to Kathleen Stephany, Mayor Rick Green asks for the support of the NDP for the renewal of the Master Agreement, set to expire this August. He also requests Stephany's commitment to light passenger rail.
In fact, the only thing that has ever held back the West Coast Express is the fact that the wheelage must be leased from the railway. The Master Agreement allows the province to run of a huge amount of trains on the CPR line at no cost.
“We already own the rails through the remainder of the interurban corridor. This is the first step to establishing an effective, reliable, and cost-efficient community rail service,” added Stephany. “The NDP will definitely extend the agreement with CP.”
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Media Contact: Piotr Majkowski 604-533-3222...
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