British Columbia Hydro Railway

The British Columbia Hydro Railway (AAR reporting mark BCH) is a railway company of British Columbia. It is a department of the British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority (BC Hydro), the Crown corporation responsible for electricity generation and distribution in BC. As a department of BC Hydro, it is formally subordinate to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, but in operational matters it coordinates closely with the Ministry of Labour, Industry, and Railways. The BC Hydro Railway operates passenger and freight trains on its heavy rail network, dedicated light rail urban transit in Victoria and Vancouver, as well as trams in North Vancouver.

= History = Electric tram service in British Columbia began in both Vancouver and Victoria in 1890, separated by only a few months. Gaining the distinction of being first was the National Electric Tramway & Lighting Company, which began tram service in Victoria on 22 February; second was the Vancouver Electric Railway & Light Company, which opened its first tram line to the public on 27 June. Both of these companies built their own power generation facilities to supply power for the trams as well as for public use. Just over a year later, on 8 October 1891 the  Westminster & Vancouver Tramway Company launched tram service in New Westminster, along with the first Vancouver–New Westminster interurban line via Central Park.

The global depression of the 1890s forced all three companies into receivership, and in 1895 they were amalgamated into the Consolidated Railway & Light Company. Unfortunately, a tram accident in Victoria that resulted in 55 deaths forced the new company into receivership as well, and in April 1897 it was reorganised as the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER).

Over the subsequent decades the BCER built a vast network of tramway and interurban lines throughout the Lower Mainland and in Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula, as well as providing rail freight service over its lines and generating electricity for public consumption. Eventually it expanded further to provide local bus service throughout Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey, Delta, Coquitlam, and Port Coquitlam.

The first major expansion of the BCER came in 1905, when it purchased the Vancouver & Lulu Island Railway which, partly owned by the Canadian Pacific, had opened a line from CP's Drake Street yard in Vancouver to Steveston, Richmond via Marpole, South Vancouver in 1903. Immediately after the purchase the BCER electrified the line and began interurban and freight operations along it. Four years later, a line from Marpole to New Westminster along the north shore of the Fraser River was opened, and in 1910, the Fraser Valley Line from New Westminster to Chilliwack was opened; both of these were for both interurban and freight operations.

The BCER's largest expansion of service in the Victoria area came in 1913 with the opening of the Island Line from Victoria to Deep Bay for interurban passenger and freight service. Originally, each railway with a presence in Victoria - the BCER, the Esquimalt & Nanaimo, and the Vancouver Island Railway, had had their own separate stations in the city; in 1918, construction began on a new joint station, funded by the BCER, the E&N, the VIR, and the City of Victoria each in an equal 25% share. The new station, Victoria Union Station, was opened in 1920 to handle the passenger trains of all three companies; each retained their own separate freight handling facilities. In 1941, with the construction of Patricia Bay Airport (later renamed Victoria International Airport) on the site of the RBCAF airstrip in Patricia Bay, the section from Bazan Bay to Deep Bay was closed, with a new alignment built from Bazan Bay to Sidney; freight service north of Bazan Bay was discontinued at this time.

The tramways, and the Vancouver–New Westminster interurban, which became the BCER were electrified at 600V DC, but when the BCER electrified the V&LI it opted to increase that to 1500V DC. This became the standard for all lines in the Lower Mainland which were used for both passenger and freight service; operations on Vancouver Island retained the lower voltage. After the British Columbia Railway began its project to electrify its southern trunk line, the Inter-Dominion Line, the BCER opted to convert its own mainline operations to the BCR system - 25kV 60Hz. Conversion of the BCER's interurban lines was completed in 1933; tramways in Vancouver, New Westminster, and North Vancouver, being isolated from the mainline operations, retained the earlier 600V DC system.

Immediately before and during the Second World War, the BCER greatly expanded its freight operations along the Fraser River in Richmond, on Annacis Island, and in Queensborough, New Westminster, and to accomodate the increased traffic generated by the massive new De Havilland plant in Abbotsford, the Liverpool–Abbotsford section of the Fraser Valley Line was double tracked in 1943; doubling of the section from Abbotsford to Huntingdon was finished in 1962. Expansion of these, especially on Annacis Island, continued after the end of the war. In the late 1950s, most tramway services began to be discontinued, to be replaced by trolley busses; this "Rails-to-Rubber" transition was completed in 1958 with the closure of the last tram line in Vancouver; the trams in North Vancouver remain in service to this day. Wanting to focus on its more profitable freight services only, the BCER applied for permission to abandon its interurban passenger services too, but this was denied by the Railway Ministry.

On 1 January 1960, the nationalisation of the BCER and all other electric railways and electricity generating companies into a single new Crown corporation known as the British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority came into effect, and from that day the railway operation was named British Columbia Hydro Railway.

A few months after the nationalisation, an extension to the Island Line from Sidney to Swartz Bay to the new BC Ferries terminal being built there was completed; the ferry terminal and the extension were opened simultaneously on 15 June 1960; at the same time, freight service along the line was discontinued entirely.

Planning by BC Hydro and the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority for what became today's Greater Vancouver Metro and Victoria Metro systems began in the first half of the 1970s, envisioning the conversion of most of the BCH network north of the Fraser River and on the Saanich Peninsula to dedicated light rail commuter transit on dedicated rights of way free of level crossings.

First to be completed was the Island Line, being rebuilt with West German assistance to an "S-Bahn" style commuter service. This work involved the conversion of the electrification from 600V DC to the national standard of 25kV 60HZ AC, the construction of several new stations, and the elimination of all level crossings, which allowed for both a significant reduction in travel times and the introduction of much more frequent service - in theory, trains could be operated every ten minutes, but at present they run every twenty minutes. Service began in 1977, and today it is known as Victoria Metro Line 1.

As part of the realisation of the metro system in Greater Vancouver, most freight operations within the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby were discontinued in the 1980s. Freight service was eliminated first along the Lulu Island Line in 1980 (the Granville Island and south False Creek freight operations were transferred to the BCR as their South False Creek Line), then along the Westminster–Eburne Line in 1984, prior to their conversion in the same way as the Island Line, eliminating all level crossings; at the same time as the existing line was being rebuilt, work took place on a new underground tunnel through downtown Vancouver to south False Creek. This first line, called the Expo Line, was opened in 1985 in time for Expo 86, running from the CPR station in downtown Vancouver Waterfront-CPR Station to Dyke Road-Britannia Station in Steveston, Richmond, with a branch (the Airport Line) serving Grant McConachie International Airport using the right-of-way that had served the former De Havilland plant on Sea Island. The line runs underground between Waterfront-CPR and Granville Island-Mariner Way Station.

Further such conversions took place over the next several years, next being the Fraser River Line from New Westminster to Marpole opened in 1987. The Central Park Line was cut back to its present length by 1983; conversion of the closed section began in 1985, with a tunnel being cut to allow the remaining section to continue operating as a freight-only line, and a new, dedicated bridge across the Fraser River was built to extend the line to Liverpool, Surrey. This line, called the Central Line, was opened in 1990. In 1993, an extension of the Fraser River Line from Marpole west to the University of British Columbia was opened. The last two lines opened were both inaugurated in 2009: the Olympic Line, an east-west line from UBC to Lougheed, Burnaby, and the Evergreen Line, from New Westminister to Coquitlam.

= Motive power and rolling stock =

Electric locomotives
incomplete


 * x00 series: In 1990, BC and Hungary signed a trade agreement, under the terms of which BC committed to purchasing a certain monetary value of heavy machinery from Hungary; as Hungarian industry was well known around the world for its busses and railway equipment, much of the imports to BC fell under those categories. It was under the terms of this agreement that in the same year, BCH ordered twenty four-axle electric locomotives from Ganz-Hunslet for light freight trains and shunting work on the Westminster Division. These locomotives were essentially indentical to the Hungarian State Railways' class V46, and the first six arrived in the summer of 1991. They quickly proved a great success, and both BC Rail and the Washington & British Columbia ordered some in 1992 and 1993.
 * The first batch of twenty (x01–x20) were delivered in 1991 and 1992, immediately going into service in the Queensborough–Annacis Industrial Area and on the Central Park Line. A second batch of twelve (x21–x32) were ordered in 1992 and delivered in 1993, to become BCH's primary power on its tracks north of the Fraser River; from around 2003 they have also been used on freight trains between Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Between 2014 and 2017 all 32 were refurbished and remain in operation today.

Commuter service

 * 1000 series: For operation of trains between New Westminster and Chilliwack after the line's conversion to 25kV 60Hz operation in 1933, forty-four single-class chair cars (2001-2044) and twenty-six baggage cars with a refrigerated compartment for transport of milk (2101-2120), were built in 1932 and 1933 by the BCER shops in Liverpool, Surrey to an in-house design externally somewhat similar to the British Southern Railway's 4-LAV class EMUs; electrical equipment, designed by Kálmán Kandó and manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers of BC, was indentical to that of the BCR's Class EM1 trainsets. Entering service in 1933, they generally ran in four-car trains, with a variable number of baggage-milk cars. A further forty chair cars (2045-2084) were built in 1934 and 1935 to operate on the Central Park and Burnaby Lake Lines after the conversion of their electrification to 25kV 60Hz. Lightly refurbished in 1956–1957, the last ones were finally retired in 1979. Three cars are preserved - one at Sullivan, one at Chilliwack, and one at the West Coast Railway Museum adjacent to the BCR station in Squamish.


 * 2000 series: In 1961 the Vancouver Locomotive Works obtained a licence from British Railways to build the Class AM3 (later Class 303) EMU in BC for the BCR and BCH; they were also built for the Canadian Pacific. Each unit of a Class AM3 train was a three-car set coupled semi-permanently together, and up for four sets could be connected in multiple to create up to a 12-car formation. In regular service six-car formations were the norm, but from the early 1980s on nine-car sets were run on Liverpool–Abbotsford trains in peak hours. The two outer carriages of each unit were driving trailers, with an intermediate motor coach containing the motor bogies and electrical equipment. Electrical components were manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers of BC, whilst the mechanical components and bodies were built by VLW.
 * 48 sets were built for BCH (2001-2144) between 1962 and 1965 to replace the 1000 series EMUs, along with a further eight sets (2145-2168) built in 1967, and a final six sets (2169-2186) in 1968, for a total of 62 sets. Retirement was to begin in 1995 with the arrival of the 3000 series EMUs; however, as only twelve were delivered, the 2000s were kept in service longer than planned, being refurbished between 1998 and 2002. Retirement finally began in 2018 with the arrival of the first of the 4000 series trains, and the last revenue run is expected to take place in 2021. The first set built (2001-2004) has been earmarked for preservation at the Greater Vancouver Transit Museum in Sullivan, Surrey, when the museum's new grounds are completed in 2022.


 * 3000 series: Following the positive experience of the V46 locomotives ordered from Ganz-Hunslet in Hungary, the BCH returned to the manufacturer in 1994 for EMUs intended to replace the 2000 series sets that had been in service since the early 1960s. To this end, BCH ordered twelve sets of the Hungarian Railways' BVmot type EMU introduced that year, with an option for a further 66 sets. In Hungarian service, each BVmot set was composed of four cars: a power car with second-class seating (type BVmot 434), a first-class chair car (type Amxz 10-76), a second-class chair car (type Bmxz 21-76), and a driving trailer with second-class seating (type Bmxtz 80-76); the variant ordered by BCH was single-class, replacing the Amxz 10-76 with a second Bmxz 21-76.
 * The twelve sets were delivered in May and August 1995, with the power cars numbered 3001–3012, the driving trailers numbered 3101-3112, and the Bmxz intermediate cars numbered 3501-3524, and they were put into service on the Liverpool–Abbotsford service in June and September. Unfortunately, they proved unsatisfactory, and the option to order more was cancelled. Once the refurbished 2000 series sets began entering service in 1999, the 3000 series were moved to the Abbotsford–Chilliwack service. For this, they were converted into five-car formations, reducing the number of trains that could be run at once to eight - more than sufficient for the eastern service. In this role they were acceptable, and remained in service until the arrival of the first batch of 4000 series EMUs, at which time refurbished 2000s replaced the 3000s on the Chilliwack service. The last revenue run of a 3000 series EMU took place on 27 March 2018, from Chilliwack to Abbotsford. The run finished, that set (3004-3501-3523-3509-3111) was put in storage for preservation, and is to be transferred to the Greater Vancouver Transit Museum.


 * 4000 series: The refurbishment of the 2000 series EMUs extended their service lives by twenty years, which bought the BCH plenty of time to find a suitable replacement for them. Several options were considered, amongst others a variant of the Siemens Desiro identical to the Skeena Pacific's E1000 series, the Stadler FLIRT, of which a variant was bought by Canadian Pacific, and the Bombardier Aventra, a variant of which BC Rail introduced in 2016. Eventually, based on its positive experiences with the type on the Victoria Metro, the BCH opted for a variant of the Bombardier Talent very similar to the 50000 series EMUs used on the Victoria Metro. However, unlike the lines on which the Victoria Metro sets are used, the lines on which the 4000 series operates are also used by freight traffic, requiring the inclusion of features necessary to allow them to be certified for shared-track operation with goods trains.
 * The first fifteen sets (4001–4015) were delivered in 2018 as six-car formations and went into operation on the Liverpool–Abbotsford Interurban service as such (reduced to four-car formations for services outwith peak hours), which allowed the transfer of modernised 2000 series sets east to permit the retirement of the 3000 series EMUs. twenty more sets (4016–4035) arrived in BC in 2019, and a further thirty (4036–4065) were put into service in 2020. Thirty more (4066–4095) are to be delivered in 2021 and a final twenty (4096–4115) in 2022, for a total of 115 sets.

Metro stock

 * Greater Vancouver Metro

Victoria Metro

 * 10000 series: For the Victoria Metro, the BCH turned to the West German firms of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen and Linke-Hofmann-Busch to produce EMUs nearly identical to the class 420 EMUs used on the commuter systems of Munich, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt am Main. Since the Island Line is isolated from other rail traffic, except at Union Station, no special modifications were needed to adapt the design for use in BC, other than to set them up for 25kV 60Hz operation instead of the German standard of 15kV 16⅔Hz. A total of 120 cars (1001–1120) in thirty four-car sets were delivered in 1976–1977, operating in four-car sets in peak hours and three-car sets in off-peak service; the last of the 9000 series trainsets was withdrawn in 2009. Two sets are in storage with the intention of preserving at least one for museum/heritage purposes.


 * 50000 series: Bombardier Talent four-part EMUs; first units delivered in 2003 to begin replacing the 1000 series sets; like the 1000 series, trains operate in four-car sets in peak hours and three-car lashups in off-peak service. A total of 140 cars (5001–5140) have been delivered for operation on Lines 1 and 4 of the Victoria Metro.

= Network = The BC Hydro Railway operates 215.2 miles of railway, all electrified at 25kV 60Hz, 30.7 miles are on Vancouver Island and 184.5 miles in the Lower Mainland. Of the latter, 79.0 miles make up the unidirectional double-tracked lines of the Greater Vancouver Metro, 11.1 miles are the North Vancouver trams, whilst the remaining 93.7 miles are heavy rail lines; 43 miles of the latter are double-tracked. This is divided into six operating areas called Divisions; responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the lines and infrastructure within a given operating area is the responsibility of the Division in question.

Island Division
30.7 miles, all passenger only, electrified and double-tracked for unidirectional operation.

The Island Division comprises Lines 1 and 4 of the Victoria Metro. Passenger transfers can be made at Victoria Union Station to other Victoria Metro lines and to BCR mainline trains, but the physical connection between the railways is not in general use.


 * Victoria Metro Line 1: 22.6 miles
 * Victoria Union Station (BCR)–Swartz Bay


 * Victoria Metro Line 4: 8.1 miles
 * Victoria Union Station (BCR)–Sayward,

Greater Vancouver Metro
79.0 miles, all passenger only, electrified and double-tracked for unidirectional operation.


 * Airport Line: 3.8 miles
 * Bridgeport (GVM Expo Line)–XVR International (from Aylmer through the XVR terminals, the line is a single-track, one-way loop returning to Aylmer from XVR International.)


 * Central Line: 10.6 miles
 * Vancouver City Centre (GVM Central Line)–Commercial-Broadway (GVM Olympic Line)–New Westminster (GVM Fraser River Line) (Central Line trains operate over the Expo Line between Vancouver City Centre and Waterfront-CPR. From Vancouver City Centre to Stadium-Chinatown, and from Milepost 7.8 to Milepost 10.7 the line is underground.)


 * Evergreen Line: 11.0 miles
 * Columbia (GVM Fraser River Line)–Lougheed Town Centre (GVM Olympic Line)–Rugby Ground, (from Columbia Station to Milepost 2.5, and from Milepost 5.0 to Milepost 6.3 the line is underground.)


 * Expo Line: 17.1 miles
 * Waterfront-CPR–Vancouver City Centre (GVM Central Line)–Broadway-Bessborough (GVM Olympic Line)–Marpole (GVM Fraser River Line)–Bridgeport (GVM Airport Line)–Dyke Road-Britannia (the Waterfront-CPR – Vancouver City Centre section is shared by Expo Line and Central Line trains. From Waterfront-CPR to Milepost 2.2 the line is underground.)


 * Fraser River Line: 19.6 miles
 * UBC Centre (GVM Olympic Line)–Marpole (GVM Expo Line)–New Westminster (GVM Central Line)–Columbia (GVM Evergreen Line)–Liverpool (from UBC Centre to Milepost 6.6 the line is underground.)


 * Olympic Line: 16.9 miles
 * UBC Centre (GVM Fraser River Line)–Broadway-Bessborough (GVM Expo Line)–Commercial-Broadway (GVM Central Line)–Lougheed Town Centre (GVM Evergreen Line), (from UBC Centre to Fraser-Great Northern the line is underground.)

North Shore Division
11.1 miles, all electrified, passenger-only tram lines.


 * Line 1: Lonsdale Quay–Braemar, 2.4 miles.
 * Line 2: Lonsdale Quay–Evelyn Park, 4.9 miles.
 * Line 3: Lonsdale Quay–Capilano, 3.8 miles.

Valley Division
61.8 miles, all electrified, 41.3 miles double tracked, 3.4 miles freight only.


 * Fraser Valley Line: 61.8 miles, electrified), 41.3 miles double tracked
 * Liverpool (BCR)–Kings–Cloverdale (W&BC)–Harmsworth–Abbotsford (NWP, W&BC)–Chilliwack (BCR Station) (BCR, W&BC)–Chilliwack (Liverpool–Huntingdon double tracked)
 * • Cruickshank Branch: Kings–Cruickshank, 0.8 miles, electrified, freight only
 * • Eagles Reach Branch: Harmsworth–Eagles Reach (BCR), 2.6 miles, electrified, freight only, 1.7 miles double tracked

Westminster Division
31.2 miles, all electrified and freight only + 45.3 miles closed


 * Burnaby Lake Line: 14.8 miles, closed 1956
 * Carrall Street–New Westminster


 * Central Park Line: 4.6 miles, electrified, freight only + 8.0 miles closed
 * Trapp Yard–CPR 14th Street Yard (CP)–Edmonds Yard–Royal Oak Yard–Central Park–Collingwood West–Carrall Street (Royal Oak–Central Park closed 1982, Central Park–Collingwood West closed 1966, Collingwood West–Carral' Street (5.2 miles) closed 1962.''
 * • Empress Foods Spur: 0.9 miles, electrified, freight only
 * Edmonds Yard–Empress Foods


 * Liverpool Line: 3.2 miles, electrified, freight only
 * New Westminster (BCR)–Liverpool (BCR, W&BC)–Brownsville (W&BC)


 * Lulu Island Line: 14.1 miles, closed 1983
 * CPR Drake Street–Marpole–Steveston'' (South False Creek area transferred to BC Rail, becoming the South False Creek Line.


 * Queensborough Line: 5.4 miles, electrified, freight only
 * Trapp Yard–CP 14th Street Yard (CP)–New Westminster (BCR)–Port Royal–Schoolhouse–Ewans Landing
 * • Tree Island Spur: 2.0 miles, electrified, freight only
 * Port Royal–Tree Island
 * • Annacis Island Line: 2.2 miles, electrified, freight only
 * Schoolhouse–De Havilland-North Spur–Cliveden Fork–Annacis Yard
 * • Fairey Spur: 0.5 miles, electrified, freight only
 * De Havilland–Fairey
 * • PacTerm Branch: 2.6 miles, electrified, freight only
 * De Havilland–Pacific Coast Terminal
 * • Coastland Spur: 0.8 miles, electrified, freight only
 * North Spur–Parwood Spur–Cliveden Fork
 * • Parwood Spur: 0.2 miles, electrified, freight only
 * Parwood Spur–Parwood
 * • Other spurs: 2.8 miles, electrified, freight only


 * Westminster–Eburne Line: 3.3 miles, electrified, freight only + 8.4 miles closed
 * Marpole-Trapp Yard–Boundary (Marpole–Trapp Yard section closed 1984)''.

= Passenger services = In addition to operating the Greater Vancouver Metro and two lines of the Victoria Metro systems, the BC Hydro Railway operates two commuter services, marketed under the Interurban name; these are single class seating only, but adjacent to the drivers' cab at the ends of each trainset is a bicycle compartment.

Fares are determined by the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority's schedule of fares. The Liverpool–Jardine-Trinity Western University section is in Fare Zone 3, the Harmsworth–Mount Lehman section is in Fare Zone 4, and Gifford to Abbotsford is in Fare Zone 5.
 * Western Interurban: Liverpool – Jardine-Trinity Western University – Abbotsford

Fares are determined by the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority's schedule of fares. The Abbotsford–Whatcom Road section is in Fare Zone 5, and the Vedder Mountain–Chilliwack section is in Fare Zone 6.
 * Eastern Interurban: Abbotsford – Chilliwack
 * Mon–Thu: hourly 05:15–10:15, every two hours 10:15–15:15, hourly 16:15–20:15, 22:15, 00:15
 * Fri–Sat: hourly 05:15–10:15, every two hours 10:15–15:15, hourly 16:15–21:15, 23:15, 01:15
 * Sun & stat: 07:00, every 90 minutes 09:00–21:45, 23:45