A new train of thought: Could rail service return to P.E.I.?
This story is from this week's episode of the new CBC podcast Good Question, P.E.I.
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There are plenty of reasons to think a new train service on P.E.I. could go off the rails.
The Island doesn't have a commuter population to support it.
It would surely cost a fortune to build.
Islanders get testy when anyone messes with our beloved Confederation Trail on the former tip-to-tip rail line.
And, besides — spuds can travel just fine in the back of Bud's rig.
But are there any reasons why a return to rail on P.E.I. could make sense in Prince Edward Island's future? That's the topic for Episode 10 of our podcast, Good Question, P.E.I.
And it turns out, to our train-loving CBC producer Travis Kingdon's delight, the idea may be gaining steam.
Train enthusiast Travis Kingdon and Samantha Kelly, curator of history with the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation, wax nostalgic about rail service on the Island. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)
In fact — 55 years after P.E.I.'s last passenger train left the station — the province is exploring the feasibility of a hydrogen-powered train service between Charlottetown and Summerside.
It's part of the government's quest to reduce the Island's carbon emissions.
"We have to look at alternate ways of transportation, so we've talked about trains," said Environment Minister Steven Myers. "I don't think we'll ever see a train again like we used to have ... that went tip-to-tip.
"But if we could use trains in a way to move large volumes of people around, particularly for work, we could reduce cars on the road, and we could reduce our emissions."
Samantha Kelly, history curator for the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation, reminds listeners that when the first railway was being built on the Island in the 1870s, high costs became a major issue.
That — coupled with corruption charges — resulted in the fall of the government of the day.
"When the next government came in, there was an assumption that maybe they would stop the railway," she said. "But it just kind of carried on, and I don't know if it was a case of, 'Well we're in it now, let's just power through and see how this goes.'"
But the damage was already done. There was actually so much debt, it forced the colony to join Canada. The federal government assumed that debt when P.E.I. joined Confederation.
She said those events surrounding building P.E.I.'s railway have "so many parallels" to some projects in the 21st century.
The Charlottetown train station circa 1907, when it was newly built. It is now offices for P.E.I.'s Workers Compensation Board. (Phil Culhane Collection/City of Charlottetown Archives)
The last passenger train stopped in P.E.I. in 1969. Some goods still travelled by freight rail until 1989, but then the tracks were ripped up.
In their place, the Confederation Trail became cherished by walkers and cyclists and, more recently, snowmobilers and horseback riders, too.
Myers acknowledged the price tag of restoring an Island train service would be a challenge, and the province would have to find funding partners if the idea were to ever steam ahead again.
"If we had a high, high need of busing between, say, Charlottetown and Summerside — and it was so high that we had so many buses on the road that we had to look at a more permanent, bigger solution — that's probably the time when you would look at a train," Myers said.
Many of P.E.I.'s original train stations and infrastructure have long been repurposed.
Whether Islanders will ever see trains running again on P.E.I. likely remains way down the tracks.
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