Inter-Dominion Line

The Inter-Dominion Line is an electrified 529.5 mile railway line of the British Columbia Railway (BC Rail) running from Pacific Central Station in Vancouver to Jasper, Alberta, Canada. It is the busiest railway line in British Columbia,and the second-longest of BC Rail's lines.

The Inter-Dominion Line makes numerous connections along its length: at Grandview Junction, Vancouver it connects to the South False Creek Line and the Washington & British Columbia Railway's Burrard Inlet Line, at Brentwood Junction, Burnaby to the North Shore Line, at Brunette to the W&BC Semiahmoo Line, at Sapperton to the Canadian Pacific Railway's Westminster Subdivision, at Liverpool to the BC Hydro Railway's Fraser Valley Line and the W&BC New Westminster Southern Line, at Eagles Reach to the BCH Fraser Valley Line, at Gifford and at Matsqui to the North Western Pacific Railroad's Bellingham & Northern Line, at Chilliwack to the BCH Fraser Valley Line and the W&BC VV&E Line, at Hope to the Coquihalla Line, at Siska, Spences Bridge, South Nepa, and Barnes Creek to the CPR Thompson Subdivision, at Ashcroft to the Sitlika Line, at Brocklehurst to the Airport Branch and the Supertest Spur, at Kamloops to the CPR Shuswap Subdivision, at Valemount Junction to the Valemount Connecting Line, and at Jasper, Alberta to the Grand Trunk Line and the Canadian National Railway's transcontinental trunk line.

The Inter-Dominion Line is divided amongst several Regions of BC Rail: the Vancouver–Ashcroft section is Line 20 of the Lower Mainland Region, the Ashcroft–Vavenby section is Line 30 of the Fraser Region, and the Vavenby–Jasper section is Line 71 of the Grand Trunk Region. The Airport Branch is Line 3001 and the Supertest Spur is Line 3002 of the Fraser Region.

History
Vancouver businessman Sir John Hendry obtained a charter from the Dominion government in 1899 to build a railway from New Westminster to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Called the Vancouver, Westminster & Yukon Railway, the first section, from Vancouver to New Westminster, was opened in 1902. In 1904, the Dominion government built the Fraser River Bridge between New Westminster and Liverpool, Surrey - the first bridge across the Fraser River south of Yale, and the VW&Y extended its line across the bridge to Liverpool, establishing a connection with the New Westminster Southern Railway, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway (GN). In the following year, the GN - the archrival of the CPR - acquired a 25% interest in the VW&Y, which built its station at the corner of Main and Prior Streets.

The Dominion Northern Pacific Railway (DNP) was established in 1900 as a subsidiary of the Canadian Dominion Northern Railway formed two years prior to build a second transcontinental railway entirely within the British Empire to be an alternative to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Construction of the BC portion of the transcontinental line, from Vancouver to Edmonton, Alberta, commenced immediately the DNP was founded. Actual new construction was required only from Liverpool, as the DNP secured running rights from there over the VW&Y over the government-owned bridge into Vancouver, where the DNP began construction of its magnificent Pacific Central Station in Vancouver on land reclaimed from what had been the eastern end of False Creek. Work on the station itself began in 1909, finishing in time for the grand opening of the new line from Vancouver to Edmonton in 1914.

The VW&Y never got beyond the V&W portion, and in 1914 - shortly before the line to Jasper was completed - the DNP bought the VW&Y and incorporate the existing line into the new transcontinental line. The Great Northern retained the 25% share it had held in the VW&Y, and the GN, and subsequently the Washington & British Columbia Railway, retained running rights over the section from Brunette to Grandview Junction in Vancouver, and contributes 25% of the maintenance costs for that section.

Unfortunately for the DNP, the outbreak of the First World War caused a downturn in traffic that, due to its insecure financial situation, affected the company significantly. Being in direct competition with the Canadian Pacific for Vancouver traffic, hindered by a longer route from Winnipeg to the Pacific Coast, and - not having its own shipping subsidiary - having to rely on third-party steamship operators, the Dominion Northern was hit particularly hard, leading to its bankruptcy less than three years after its opening. Recognising the importance of the railway, in 1918 the Canadian government nationalised the Dominion Northern, and the BC government opted to follow suit a month later with the DNP; the Jasper–Edmonton section was sold to Canada. In Canada, the nationalised company retained the Dominion Northern name until absorbed into the Canadian National Railway in 1923, but the Dominion Northern Pacific Railway was renamed, becoming the British Columbia Railway (BCR).

Crown ownership of the railway gave the BCR a stability and security that it had lacked before. The Dominion Northern, operating on a shoestring budget from the beginning, had saved money wherever it could, with the result that the quality of construction on the mainline left much to be desired. One of the first tasks after nationalisation was the upgrade of the mainline to the highest standards of the time over the entire line from Hope to Jasper. In 1922, after the government nationalised the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and merged it into the BCR, the Vancouver–Jasper line was given the name it has kept to this day, the Inter-Dominion Line.

The BCR's Electrification project began in 1922, with the first section, 117 miles from Hope to Ashcroft on the Inter-Dominion Line, being put into operation in September 1930; this route was chosen as it is one of the most difficult sections of that line. Afterwards, the wires were extended from both ends of this section, and the entire Vancouver–Kamloops line becoming operational in July 1931. The next section completed was the other difficult mountain segment: from Valemount to Jasper was energised in October 1931. This included the 75.3 mile portion of the Inter-Dominion Line, the parallel 64.8 mile stretch of the Grand Trunk Line from Tete Jaune Cache to Jasper, and the 8.8-mile Valemount Connecting Line.

Electrification of the remainder of the southern route, between Kamloops and Valemount, was completed in three stages: