The Township of Langley is pressing for a hydrogen train from Pattulo Bridge to Chilliwack. The City of Surrey is contemplating on whether to go through with this project. There is already a Skytain being constructed in the Fleetwood area stretching to Langley. In the GVR, there is a current passenger train referred to as the West Coast Express that travels from downtown Vancouver to Mission however, if travelers want to go to Chilliwack they would have to take a bus from Mission to Chilliwack. The contemplation of a hydrogen train system from the municipality of Surrey to Chilliwack traveling down the Highway of Heroes is very interesting and it could have many benifits to transport such as enhancing trade and interconnectivity. The project is to be proposed at the Union of BC Municipalities’ annual general meeting this September in Vancouver. With this said, there are train developments happening on a global scale to make countrys more connected. For example China has built trains for Africa. Further China has built the fastest passenger train, the Maglev Bullet Train which travels up to 600 km / hour, while Japan has invested in the Philippines Metro Manila subway trains through Sumitomo, for a railway line. As it pertains to the current infrastructure, Canada has the CN railway which extends currently from the West Coast to the East Coast, it is functional. These trains are mainly for cargo. For the USA, they have the Amtrak however there is an issue with it, it is fragmented and many companies own parts of the train system making a continental US train difficult and cumbersome. Atleast with this new proposal by the city of Langley, it promises a connected train in a very wide distance, something that many states lack. With all of this said, in lieu of the Grey Hound operation being discontinued several years back we could possibly have a new rail system in the next decade.
WORK CITED
CNN. (2023). China debuts world fastest train. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-fastest-maglev-train-intl-hnk/index.html
Nikkei. (2020). Japans Sumitomo buy's 20% stake in Philippines railway for 60M. Retrieved from: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Japan-s-Sumitomo-buys-20-stake-in-Philippine-railway-for-60m
The Chilliwack Progress. (2023). Surrey should take 'good hard look' at running hydrogen passenger trains to Chilliwack. Retrieved from: https://www.theprogress.com/news/surrey-should-take-good-hard-look-at-running-hydrogen-passenger-trains-to-chilliwack/
