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The E and N Railway is a short line railway run by RailAmerica, Inc.. It is one of two remaining railways over 100 miles in length on Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Until 1996, it was called the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. It then spent three years as E and N Railfreight before being sold to RailAmerica and getting its current name. Abbreviations used include E&N and ENR.
Despite the name, the railway goes beyond the historical termini of Esquimalt and Nanaimo. It currently runs from Victoria to Courtenay, with a spur from Parksville to Port Alberni.
VIA Rail Canada runs regular passenger train service (the Malahat) with Budd built Rail Diesel Cars on the Victoria to Courtenay main line (called the Victoria Subdivision by the E&N), from Victoria to Courtenay, with a stop at Nanaimo; the Victoria and Nanaimo stations have ferry service to Vancouver on the mainland. The E&N runs from Victoria to Parksville, Parksville to Port Alberni, and Parksville to Courtenay. There is a spur south of Nanaimo that connects to the E&N's main railyard and barge slip (dock) in Nanaimo.
History
In 1873, Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald had stated that Esquimalt, British Columbia, the site of a naval base, would be the terminus of the "Pacific Railway". However, both the federal government and the Canadian Pacific Railway placed a low priority on construction of such a railway, as it had low traffic potential and would duplicate an existing steamer service. In 1883, the British Columbia provincial government, tired of waiting for the federal government to build the railway, signed a contract with Sir Robert Dunsmuir, Nanaimo coal baron and a member of the provincial legislature, to build a railway between Esquimalt and Nanaimo in exchange for $750,000 from the federal government and 800,000 acres of land on Vancouver Island. That amount of land was almost 20% of the entire island and included all known coal deposits. The fact that Dunsmuir was a member of the provincial government that was making the deal aroused some suspicion. Shortly afterwards, Dunsmuir and associates incorporated the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway.
Construction of the railway took three years. On August 13, 1886, the last spike was driven at Cliffside, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Victoria. The spike was gold, and the hammer was silver. Prime Minister Macdonald drove the last spike, during his only visit to British Columbia. The railway was extended to Dunsmuir's mine at Wellington in 1887, and into Victoria in 1888. It was extended west to Port Alberni in 1911, and north to Courtenay in 1914. The E&N Railway was originally to have been built all the way to Campbell River, but that plan fell through due to the outbreak of World War I.
Between 1905 and 1999, the E&N Railway was owned and operated by Canadian Pacific Railway. VIA took over operation of CP's passenger train service (called The Malahat) in 1978 while CP demarketed its freight operation, claiming that freight traffic was declining. In 1996, CP reorganized the E&N as an "internal short line" named E&N Railfreight and Railbarge operations were sold to Seaspan Intermodal. In early 1999, shortline operator RailAmerica purchased/leased the E&N from CP. This RailAmerica subsidiary is named E and N Railway Company (1998) Ltd. and uses the reporting marks ENR (the reporting mark EN was still owned by CP), thus maintaining the historic name associations for the Vancouver Island line. Regular passenger service to Port Alberni ended in 1957 and regular freight service to Port Alberni (making up 85% of the E&N's revenue) ended in 2001 when the pulp mill in Port Alberni switched to truck.
Despite the purchase by RailAmerica, freight traffic has continued to decline and the future of the E&N has been in doubt for several years as RailAmerica is seeking to sell this recent acquisition due to unprofitability. Restrictions from Canadian Pacific on the lease/sale agreement, signficant taxpayer investments in public highways during the 1990s, including a major reconstruction of highway 1, has led to reduced driving times between Victoria and Nanaimo, but has also drastically impacted the privately owned rail line, which does not have the benefit of the provincial subsidies accorded to its competing highways. With next to no freight traffic and only a daily passenger train, the future of the E&N without direct government subsidies for its continued operation, let alone future upgrades, remains doubtful, Currently RailAmerica is looking for buyers for the railway. Freight traffic has dropped to about 2000 carloads a year after the loss of their largest freight customer, a pulp mill in Port Alberni.
In the summers of 2000 and 2001 a tourist operation ran out of Victoria three times a day in 2000 and twice a day in 2001, called the Pacific Wilderness Railway. The Pacific Wilderness was not successful and shut down halfway through the 2001 tourist season.
List of current freight customers - Superior Propane, Nanaimo
- Top Shelf Feed Mill, Duncan
- National Silicates, Parksville
- FMC Chemicals, Parksville
Regular freight service to Victoria, Courtenay, and Port Alberni ended in 2001, and only special moves are handled to those cities now. The E&N lost four freight customers in 2001. Annual carloads dropped from 8500 to 2000 almost overnight.
External links - Official page (http://www.railamerica.com/railmaps/ENRR.htm)
- History of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (http://www.trainweb.org/canadianrailways/articles/EsquimaltAndNanaimoRailway.htm)
- VIA Rail Malahat service (http://www.viarail.ca/trains/en_trai_roch_vico.html)
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