CN seeks to end lease on ex-BC Rail route north of Vancouver

SQUAMISH, British Columbia — Canadian National Railway has announced its intention to abandon operations on 214 miles of former BC Rail tracks north of Squamish that it began leasing from the province British Columbia in 2003.

The scenic route through the province’s interior from North Vancouver to a connection with CN’s Prince Rupert line at Prince George, B.C., hosts seasonal Rocky Mountaineer “Rainforest to Gold Rush” excursions to and from Jasper, Alta. A 20-mile segment south of Lillooet, B.C., is also utilized by a First Nations organization that operates twice-daily railbus service.

As first reported by the Squamish Chief, CN issued a three-year plan to the provincial government earlier this month in which the company outlines its intention to “decommission” tracks it leases from just north of Squamish, about 39 miles from North Vancouver, to a point south of Exeter, B.C., in the 100 Mile House area of British Columbia’s Cariboo Region. It would retain lease rights north another 206 miles to Prince George and beyond. The railroad has not been operating through freights regularly over the route for several years.

Regulations require the railroad within a year to “publicly advertise the availability of the line or any operating in it for sale, lease, or other transfer for continued operations.”  At this early stage, it is unclear whether any operator will step up to take over operations or track maintenance, although the Chief reached out to a member of Parliament who called the discontinuance “an exciting development” for possible passenger rail expansion.

A British Columbia assembly member told the news outlet that the July 2026 date “gives us a one-year window to build a business case [for taking over the route], secure support from all levels of government, and make an offer to acquire the lease via an operating entity.” But if no deal can be reached, others suggest the right-of-way could be turned into a trail.

Rocky Mountaineer’s three-day North Vancouver-Jasper “Rainforest to Gold Rush” weekly excursions in each direction will thus continue to operate through 2026. However, spokeswoman Nicole Ford says, “we are determining what this means for our longer term operations in the region.” The spring-through-fall trips offering both SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf service classes leave Jasper on Tuesdays and North Vancouver on Wednesdays, making overnight stops at Whistler and Quesnel, B.C.

Tracks from Squamish to Quesnel were completed in 1921 by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and later extended south to North Vancouver and up to Prince George by the 1950s, when passenger service utilizing Budd RDCs began over the entire route.  Renamed BC Rail, the province-owned, passenger-friendly management parlayed legacy equipment acquired from VIA into the Pacific Starlight Dinner Train out of North Vancouver, Royal Hudson steam trips from Squamish, and introduced luxury Whistler Northwind journeys in 2001 between North Vancouver and Prince George. with refurbished heritage lounge cars and single-level Colorado Railcar domes once used on the defunct Florida Fun Train.

After BC Rail passenger service ended in October 2002, a railcar shuttle between the division point at Lillooet and Seton Portage was maintained through the Seton Lake tunnel to give area residents a shortcut in place of an hour-long highway trip. Today, a converted school bus plies a route for the Tsalalh Seton Train that calls at schools and grocery stores on Lillooet streets before lowering flanged wheels to run on tracks to Seton Portage, where it terminates off-rail at a restaurant and pub.

The scheduled service operates two round trips daily, but a recently posted Facebook advisory reminds passengers that the schedule is different on Thursdays when there is a schedule conflict with the Rocky Mountaineer. News Wire has reached out to the shuttle operator for comment on CN’s plans, but has not received a response.