Alan Philip

Turning Rails into Trails: Re-imagining Vancouver Island’s 289km rail corridor. Listen to this podcast by the BC Cycling Coalition.
Is it all over for trains on the abandoned E&N Rail line stretching 289 kilometres along Vancouver Island? Alastair Craighead, Chair of Friends of Rails to Trails Vancouver Island, thinks so, and is one of many people working with regional districts, municipalities, businesses and First Nations to convert these derelict tracks into a world-class trail network.

The Cowichan Valley Regional District invites you to watch this video to learn about what could be the biggest opportunity for Vancouver Island… or at the very least… the longest!

It’s the Island Rail Corridor, a 289 km long rail line stretching between Victoria and Courtenay that winds through 13 municipalities, 5 regional districts, and several First Nations.

A golden opportunity has presented itself to turn the almost dormant 220-kilometre E&N rail line on Vancouver Island into a multi-use trail network without a rail line, according to Cowichan’s David Slade.
Slade, vice-president of Friends of Rails to Trails Vancouver Island, told the board at the Cowichan Valley Regional District at its meeting on May 14 that trails are cheap to build, and that the fixed costs to reinstate rail service on the corridor are very high.

Two new businesses – a craft brewery and craft coffee shop – took a chance in 2023 on locating next to the Okanagan Rail Trail near its Kelowna end.
They both saw the huge potential of capitalizing on heavy Rail Trail traffic

A cycling tourism strategy is being prepared for the Cowichan Valley

The Cowichan Valley Regional District has released their report on a Shared Vision for the Island Rail Corridor

The Island Rail Corridor offers a complementary option for the slow-tourism crowd

What the world can learn from Copenhagen’s cycling revolution – cycling pays!

Read FORT-VI’s Q&A submission to the CVRD and help develop a shared vision for the Island Corridor

Dispelling myths about rails to trails on the E&N corridor