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-tiprail line.

And, besidesspuds 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 makesense in Prince Edward Island's future? That's the topic for Episode 10 of ourpodcast, Good Question, P.E.I.

And it turns out, to our train-loving CBC producerTravis Kingdon's delight, the idea may be gaining steam.

In fact 55 years after P.E.I.'s last passenger train left the stationthe provinceis exploring the feasibility of a hydrogen-powered train service between Charlottetown and Summerside.

It'spart of the government'squest 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 theP.E.I.Museum and Heritage Foundation, reminds listeners that when the first railway was being built on the Islandin the 1870s, high costs became a majorissue.

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, 'Wellwe're in it now, let's just power through and see how this goes.'"

22:31Could P.E.I.'s trains get back on track?

The story of P.E.I.s (disastrous) railroad is intrinsically linked to our place in Canada, but could moving toward greener transportation bring us back to the almighty train? Guest co-host Travis Kingdon hopes so.

But the damage was already done. There wasactually so much debt, it forced the colony to join Canada.The federal government assumed that debt when P.E.I. joined Confederation.

She said thoseevents surrounding building P.E.I.'s railway have "so many parallels" to some projects in the 21st century.

The last passenger train stopped inP.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 ofrestoring anIsland train service would be a challenge, and the province would have to find funding partners if the idea were to eversteam 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 solutionthat'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 remainsway down thetracks.

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