BC government study identifies regional rail and West Coast Express extension

BC government study identifies potential West Coast Express extension and regional rail options between Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley

Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)

What could a route extension of existing commuter rail services — or the creation of a new regional rail system — between Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley look like?

As it turns out, the Government of British Columbia recently examined such concepts in a highly preliminary study completed in 2021.

This study, released through a freedom of information request, identified three potential concepts that optimize the use of existing railway corridors and infrastructure to lower construction costs compared to establishing a new railway right-of-way, which would involve buying significant property. The study specifically focused on the area between eastern Metro Vancouver — Langley City and Langley Township — and the Fraser Valley as far east as Chilliwack.

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One concept would extend TransLink’s existing West Coast Express commuter rail service southwards across the Fraser River from its current easternmost terminus of Mission to reach Abbotsford.

The two other concepts would introduce regional rail to the Lower Mainland by using the existing Interurban railway corridor — starting from the new Langley City terminus of SkyTrain’s future Expo Line extension, with one concept ending at Mission and another concept ending in Chilliwack.

Upon inquiry, the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure told Daily Hive Urbanized this study supports the ongoing broader work of the Fraser Valley Integrated Regional Transportation Planning, which was launched by the provincial government in 2020.

West Coast Express trains at Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver. (Michael Chu/Flickr)

“The rail study concluded in late summer 2021 and identified potential future benefits of a regional passenger rail concept,” the Ministry told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“Further analyses would be required to assess corridor and infrastructure condition, commercial interests, ridership, governance, emerging technologies, and overall costs and benefits of integration with other major transportation projects in the region.”

The eastern Metro Vancouver to Fraser Valley corridor between Surrey and Chilliwack is forecast to see a population increase of over 50% to 1.2 million people by 2050, including a growth from 320,000 in 2019 to over 500,000 within the Fraser Valley, with Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford driving the Fraser Valley’s portion of such growth.

Additionally, the Fraser Valley is expected to see 100,000 more jobs by 2050.

Major/emerging urban centres within eastern Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. (Government of BC)

Currently, according to the study, 75% to 90% of trips conducted by individuals in automobiles stay within the Fraser Valley, and most remain within their municipality of origin. For those leaving their municipalities, the top destinations include Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack.

Apart from the TransLink-operated West Coast Express terminating in Mission, public transit services in the Fraser Valley are operated by the provincial transit authority of BC Transit.

BC Transit operates the interregional No. 66 Fraser Valley Express bus route, which first launched in 2015, linking downtown Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and TransLink’s Carvolth bus exchange in Langley Township. Ridership grew from 72,000 boardings in its first year to 253,000 in 2019, and it recovered over 60% of its pre-pandemic ridership by late 2021. In early 2022, the No. 66 saw a major route extension to bring its western terminus station to SkyTrain Lougheed Town Centre Station in Burnaby.

The study notes that while the No. 66 has seen steadily increasing annual ridership, it has issues of on-time performance and reliability on Highway 1.

No. 66 Fraser Valley Express. (BC Transit)

fraser valley express route skytrain lougheed town centre station

Route map of No. 66 Fraser Valley Express bus stops and connections to other bus services starting in March 2022, when it is extended to SkyTrain Lougheed Town Centre Station. (Fraser Valley Regional District)

The Fraser Valley’s overall public transit ridership is poor for a combination of reasons, including low service levels, low density, farmland (vast areas that are under the protected Agricultural Land Reserve), and higher ratios of people working in the trades, construction, and transportation sectors when compared to Metro Vancouver or the provincial average.

The study suggests that there are opportunities for municipalities in the Fraser Valley to explore ways to develop land uses that support enhanced public transit services and accommodate a greater degree of growth through more sustainable development patterns, especially around station catchment areas.

“This is long-term integrated planning currently underway to ensure that transportation infrastructure keeps pace with and supports growth and development in the Fraser Valley. This process will identify strategic priorities and actions for future planning, including contemplation of regional passenger rail,” the Ministry told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“The Ministry is also working closely with TransLink, BC Transit, and the municipalities of the region to establish future needs and priorities and to enable an integrated transit network south of the Fraser.”

The Ministry also suggested its phased work on upgrading Highway 1 between eastern Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley will make public transit bus services more reliable, easier, and quicker to use, specifically with the widening of the highway to include HOV/electric vehicle and bus-on-shoulder lanes in each direction.

Here is a rundown of all three concepts as outlined in the study, which was completed by transportation consultancy firms Mott Macdonald and Stewart Group for the Ministry:

Option 1: West Coast Express commuter rail extension to Abbotsford

Currently, Mission City Station in Mission’s emerging downtown area is the easternmost terminus station of TransLink’s West Coast Express commuter rail service.

A 10.5-km-long southward extension would bring the West Coast Express to the east side of Abbotsford’s emerging downtown area. This extension would be accomplished by using Canadian Pacific’s existing railway corridor between Mission and Abbotsford, including the use of the Mission Rail Bridge.

The estimated commuter rail travel time between Mission City and downtown Abbotsford is up to 11 min, which is on par with the car driving time of 11 minutes. This would mean a West Coast Express trip between Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver and Abbotsford City Centre would take only about 86 minutes.

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Concept route map for the West Coast Express extension to Abbotsford City Centre. (Government of BC)

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West Coast Express commuter rail’s Waterfront Station platforms in downtown Vancouver. (TransLink)

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West Coast Express commuter rail at Coquitlam Central Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Such an extension of the West Coast Express would attract up to 2,154 boardings per day (560,000 annually) for peak period-only service, and up to 3,360 boardings per day (874,000 annually) for all-day service. By 2050, these figures would grow to 2,911 per day (756,860 annually) for peak period-only service, and 4,542 boardings per day (1.18 million annually), respectively.

However, there are several challenges with this West Coast Express extension concept.

It is noted in the study that the Mission Rail Bridge is already highly used for freight train crossings, with an average of 31 crossings per day in 2026, and the expectation is that this figure will increase to over 50 crossings per day by 2030.

Currently, Mission City Station is located on the east side of the rail bridge to directly serve Mission’s downtown area. In order to achieve a route extension, this station could be relocated to the east of the rail bridge at a greater cost, but impact land uses in the emerging city centre area. Alternatively, trains could reverse from the existing station onto the bridge and into Abbotsford.

west coast express abbotsford extension 1

Concept of the relocation of West Coast Express’ Mission City Station to the west side of the Mission Rail Bridge for the extension to Abbotsford. (Government of BC)

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Concept of retaining Mission City Station’s existing location, and having West Coast Express trains reverse direction for the remaining journey across Mission Rail Bridge to Abbotsford. (Government of BC)

All of this depends on successful negotiations with Canadian Pacific, which currently only permits the West Coast Express to run within a two-hour window in the morning and evening peak hour periods in each peak direction on weekdays. This highly limited operating agreement on its tracks has been essentially unchanged since 1995 when the service was first launched. As part of the original agreement, the provincial government provided Canadian Pacific with about $62 million to perform infrastructure upgrades to support shared freight and passenger operations along the corridor between downtown Vancouver and Mission.

Option 2: Regional rail linking Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission

The study identified two potential regional rail options.

Regional rail is a different kind of rail public transit mode. Unlike commuter rail, such as West Coast Express, regional rail does not use heavy-rail locomotives and bi-level passenger cars, and instead uses a more adaptable and flexible multiple-unit train system that can be coupled together to form train sets, with double-ended driver cabs enabling bi-directional travel.

Such regional rail trains typically have maximum design speeds of between 100 km/hr and 145 km/hr, with improved acceleration and deceleration compared to heavy-rail commuter rail trains. While this is the train vehicle’s maximum design speed, the actual operating speed depends on the design and condition of the railway tracks.

The study assumes the average speed range for both regional rail options to be between 50 km/hr and 65 km/hr, including acceleration and deceleration. This is also after capital costs of $15 million to $22 million per km for rail infrastructure, stations, and other corridor improvements.

Aside from train typology, in terms of actual service levels, regional rail is generally an all-day service, running more frequently than commuter rail, with frequencies of generally at least one train per hour outside peak periods and higher frequencies during peak periods.

Specific examples of regional rail noted by the study’s researchers include Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) in the San Francisco area and Capital Metro Rail in Austin.

Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)

SMART, which currently has a route length of 72 km and 12 stations, has a ridership of an average of 2,700 per weekday as of late 2023. It first began service in 2017 after an investment of nearly US$1 billion, with plans for further expansion.

Capital Metro Rail, which launched in 2010, has a network length of 51 km with 10 stations. As of last year, its ridership averaged at 1,500 boardings per weekday.

Both regional rail concepts would begin within Langley City Centre, with passengers connecting to SkyTrain’s future Expo Line extension at either Willowbrook Station (on 196th Street) or the terminus station of Langley City Centre Station (on 203rd Street). Interchange hub connections would be established between the SkyTrain and regional rail stations.

Interchange station hub opportunities within Langley City Centre between SkyTrain Expo Line and the Interurban regional rail. (Government of BC)

surrey langley skytrain map official station names

Map of the official station names of the eight new stations on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line. (Government of BC)

Regional rail would use the Interurban railway corridor. This corridor, historically used for streetcars up until the middle of the 20th century, is under two separate private owners following a 1988 sale by BC Hydro.

The Interurban’s western segment through Langley, called the “Page Subdivision,” is owned by Canadian Pacific, while the wider segment called the “Fraser Valley Subdivision” is currently owned by the Washington Group through the Southern Railway of British Columbia. The Fraser Valley Subdivision spans the vast majority of the entire Interurban railway corridor between the New Westminster Rail Bridge over the Fraser River in Surrey to Chilliwack — except for the mid-route segment of the Page Subdivision.

In both agreements, BC Hydro stipulated that the Crown corporation would retain the rights for granting passenger rail services within both subdivisions.

But some negotiations with both companies would still be required, as “operators along the lines cannot materially interfere with the operations of each other, and passenger services may be subject to capital and operating cost-sharing provisions.”

The Interurban railway corridor between Langley City and Chilliwack, with the Page Subdivision segment highlighted. (Government of BC)

As of 2016, the Page Subdivision sees an average of 18 trains per day, while the larger Fraser Valley subdivision sees an average of four trains per day. The Page Subdivision sees more train volumes as it connects the Delta Port Terminal at Roberts Bank in Tsawassen to the Canadian National corridor northeast of Langley City, providing for freight traffic from the port east into the rest of Canada. With growing cargo volumes and a forthcoming major expansion of the port facilities at Roberts Bank, the Page Subdivision is expected to see even more freight trains in the future.

The study notes that the upgrades along the existing Interurban corridor to accommodate regional rail would include double tracking along the busy Page Subdivision between Langley City and Highway 1, additional track/siding at station locations, station platforms and standard passenger amenities, an operations and maintenance facility, railway signalling upgrades, and the addition of audible and light warnings where the railway crosses roadways.

This first regional rail option would run between Expo Line’s Langley City terminus and the West Coast Express’ existing station at Mission City via Abbotsford, including Abbotsford City Centre. This uses a segment of the first option’s routing of extending the West Coast Express southwards to Abbotsford, including the use of the Mission Rail Bridge.

Option 2: Concept for regional rail on the Interurban linking Langley City Centre, Abbotsford City Centre, and Mission City. (Government of BC)

The travel time of this 46.5-km-long regional rail route between Langley City Centre and Mission City is estimated at between 40 minutes to 45 minutes, and it would create the public transit network benefit of creating a closed loop in the regional rail-based transit network through the regional rail’s connection with the West Coast Express. Regional rail’s travel time is comparable to the car driving time of 41 minutes over the same distance.

Its ridership is forecast to be an average of up to 3,778 boardings per day (982,000 annually) for peak period-only service, and up to 5,894 boardings per day (1.53 million annually) for all-day service. By 2050, these figures are expected to grow to up to 5,536 boardings per day (1.44 million annually) and 8,636 boardings per day (2.25 million), respectively, which is comparable to the West Coast Express’ ridership volumes in 2023.

Option 3: Regional rail linking Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack

This alternative regional rail option using a much longer stretch of the Interurban railway corridor would also begin at SkyTrain Expo Line’s Langley City terminus, but it would continue eastward through Abbotsford and end in Chilliwack’s downtown area.

This is the longest route option, with a distance of 75 km. Its travel time is estimated at between 60 minutes and 75 minutes, which is longer than the 52-minute travel time by car driving.

As the longest route, and as a service that provides an alternative way to travel east-west between eastern Metro Vancouver and areas deeper into the Fraser Valley, this regional rail option also has the highest ridership potential.

It could see up to 4,148 boardings per day (1.08 million annually) for peak period-only service, and up to 7,191 boardings per day (1.87 million annually) for all-day service. By 2050, these figures would grow to up to 6,112 boardings per day (1.59 million annually) and up to 10,650 per day (2.77 million annually), respectively, which is comparable to the pre-pandemic ridership of the West Coast Express.

Option 3: Concept for regional rail on the Interurban linking Langley City Centre, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack. (Government of BC)

west coast express abbotsford extension 4

All options: Concept network map of the full regional rail network reaching Chilliwack and the extension between Mission City and Abbotsford. (Government of BC)

“Regional rail, a style and technology of rail transit well-suited to the geography and conditions of the Fraser Valley, has the potential to provide significant benefits in shaping the growth and evolution of communities, including job creation, access to housing options and services, and a more sustainable mode of travel,” reads the study.

“These concepts can integrate with existing and planned transit systems, including SkyTrain, West Coast Express, and bus services, leveraging infrastructure investments and supporting transit networks.”

The study suggests regional rail would be best spearheaded, implemented and operated by the provincial government or through a provincial-level entity — such as BC Transit — given that the service would run through municipal and regional boundaries.

It is also noted in the study that its focus was to identify expanded possibilities for commuter/regional rail to improve east-west linkages across the Lower Mainland, so it did not have an objective to compare potential alternatives such as bus rapid transit (BRT), light rail transit (LRT), and SkyTrain.

The full Interurban railway corridor segment within the South of Fraser between northern Surrey and Chilliwack. (South Fraser Community Rail/Google Maps)

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Interurban streetcars running in front of the BC Penitentiary in New Westminster, 1935. (City of New Westminster Archives)

But this is not the first time the Interurban railway corridor has been studied for interregional passenger rail services.

A BC Transit study in 2010 examined the Interurban railway corridor between SkyTrain Scott Road Station in Surrey and Chilliwack, as well as a potential extension of the West Coast Express to Abbotsford. This previous study considered LRT, heavy rail, and bus alternatives, and it recommended highway-based bus solutions on the basis of lower implementation costs, which led to the 2015 launch of the No. 66 Fraser Valley Express bus route.

However, the Ministry’s 2021 study states that such bus services “generally do not encourage development investment to the same extent as fixed rail transit, and continuing high population growth rates, increasing congestion, and other socio-economic conditions merit continued and evolving evaluations of options to establish passenger rail to provide a fast, reliable regional transit service in the Fraser Valley.”

Another analysis jointly conducted by TransLink and the Ministry in the early 2010s also studied various options for extending rapid transit between Surrey City Centre and Langley, including the Interurban railway corridor, which was ultimately dismissed as an option. This work provided some of the foundation that would lead to the current project of extending Skytrain’s Expo Line by 16 km along Fraser Highway between the existing King George Station to Langley City Centre.

In 2019, TransLink also extinguished the Interurban railway corridor idea, when an advocacy group asserted an at-grade LRT system on the Interurban could fully replace the need for building SkyTrain’s Expo Line extension to Langley City Centre. The group claimed the 99-km-long distance of the Interurban between northern Surrey and Chilliwack could be traversed by train in just 90 minutes with very minimal investment, but TransLink deemed this to be highly unfeasible for a range of reasons.

In more recent years, a different group called Mountain Valley Express has been advocating for the need for a real regional rail system to provide all-day, fast, and frequent service across Metro Vancouver — a regional rail network that would complement the growing SkyTrain network. Unlike the other advocacy group’s calls in 2018/2019 and the Ministry’s 2021 study, Mountain Valley Express is calling for a much more ambitious approach, with extensive investments in fully grade-separated railways — elevated and tunnelled tracks — to optimize speed, frequency, reliability, and capacity.

Example of regional rail: S-Bahn in Cologne, Germany. (Markus Mainka/Shutterstock)

Brightline train in Florida. (Brightline)

“If we want transit to achieve parity with driving, regional rail is the missing piece. Virtually every large city in the world where more people use transit than drive has a regional rail system,” wrote Lee Haber, an urban and transportation planner and the director of strategy and partnerships at Mountain Valley Express, in an op-ed for Daily Hive Urbanized in January 2024.

“What do I mean by regional rail? A regional rail system is designed to connect an entire region using faster trains (typically over 100 km/hr) and with stations spaced further apart (typically over three km between stations). In contrast, rail rapid transit systems, such as SkyTrain, meant to connect major local hubs are typically limited to a top speed of 80 km/hr and have stations every kilometre or so.”

And in February 2024, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the BC Federation of Labour issued a joint report urging the need for significantly improved public transit, including developing new regional rail connections across the South Coast and Vancouver Island along historic rail corridors. This includes expanding the West Coast Express from its existing weekday-only service into a regular daily service and extending its route to Abbotsford, introducing regional rail to the Interurban railway corridor within Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, and restoring regular passenger rail service between Metro Vancouver and Prince Georgia via Squamish and Whistler.

The largest current east-west transportation project benefiting the Fraser Valley is the provincial government’s forthcoming $2.3 billion project of widening Highway 1 over the nine-km-long segment between the 264th Street interchange in Langley Township and Mt. Lehman Road interchange in Abbotsford, which includes a new public transit hub at the 264th Street interchange and bus-on-shoulder lanes in each direction. It will reach completion in 2029.

This represents the latest progressive widening of the Highway 1 corridor within Metro Vancouver, with the phased improvements, gradually moving eastward, now reaching the Fraser Valley. Another future phase of the highway corridor upgrade is also planned between the Mt. Lehman Road interchange and the Highway 11 (Sumas Way) interchange in the Sumas Prairie.

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