VV&E Line
The VV&E Line, also known as the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Line, is a 44.8 mile electrified railway line of the Washington & British Columbia Railway (W&BC) running from Cloverdale on the New Westminster Southern and Victoria Terminal Lines to Chilliwack BC Rail Station on BC Rail's Inter-Dominion Line; it also connects there to the BC Hydro Railway's Fraser Valley Line. The W&BC has running rights over BC Rail to Hope, which is the starting point of the W&BC's Manning Park Line. The 25.5 miles between Cloverdale and Abbotsford are double tracked.
Aside from the termini, Abbotsford is the only place on the VV&E line where connections to other lines are made - the W&BC's Sumas Crossing Line, BC Hydro's Fraser Valley Line, and the North Western Pacific Railroad's Bellingham & Northern Line.
The VV&E Line is Line 17 of the Lower Mainland Region of the W&BC.
History
The Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway (VV&E) was established in 1907 as a BC subsidiary of the American Great Northern Railway to build a railway from the Lower Mainland to the Boundary Country and the West Kootenays - areas into which the GN had already expanded, via other subsidiaries chartered in BC. With this railway, the GN would have a direct connection between the resource-rich southern Interior of BC with Vancouver and, through another subsidiary, the Victoria Terminal & Ferry Company (VT&F), to Victoria; the VT&F had built a line from Cloverdale to Port Guichon, Delta, where it built a dock for a rail ferry service to Sidney on Vancouver Island in conjunction with the Victoria & Sidney Railway, opening it in 1903.
A year after the British Columbia & Bellingham Bay Railway (the BC-chartered subsidiary of the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad) opened its line from Whatcom (today part of Bellingham) to Mission, BC via the border town of Sumas, WA, to gain access to the Canadian Pacific Railway's transcontinental line, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway built a line from Seattle to Sumas via Woodinville and Sedro in 1892. Intended to become a much larger network, the SLS&E had built two disconnected lines, the other running from Spokane to Davenport; in 1900, the SLS&E was bought by the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, with the NP acquiring the eastern portion and the GN the western. The GN also purchased the Everett–Snohomish section of the Everett & Monte Cristo Railway and combined it with the western portion of the SL&SE to create the Seattle & International Railroad in 1900. In 1907 the GN absorbed the S&I, as well as the section of the E&MC that had become the Monte Cristo Railway.
The above is the background to why the first section of the VV&E to be opened, in 1909, ran from Cloverdale via Abbotsford to Sumas, whilst work east from Abbotsford continued, running via Chilliwack to Hope; this was opened in 1911, and in 1913, with the completion of the Hope–Princeton line, a Coast-to-Okanagan connection was finally achieved. The Dominion Northern Pacific line from Vancouver to Jasper, Alberta, Canada opened in 1914 ran adjacent to the VV&E line between Chilliwack and Hope, as the GN - arch-rival to the Canadian Pacific - was happy to allow the DNP through the narrow space, to give aid to a CPR competitor simply out of spite. By 1916, the VV&E and the DNP had made an agreement in which the DNP line would be used for westbound trains, and the VV&E line for eastbound trains, an arrangement which continued after the VV&E was absorbed into the Great Northern in 1921.
When the Great Northern's BC operations were spun off into the Washington & British Columbia Railway in 1937, the W&BC's system was changed from the Division-Subdivision system used by the GN to the system of Lines used by the BCR, and under this system, the Abbotsford–Sumas branch became the Sumas Crossing Line, whilst the mainline became the VV&E Line. In 1939, as part of a systemwide rationalisation to eliminate unnecessary duplications between the W&BC and the BCR, the W&BC's Chilliwack–Hope section was closed; since then, W&BC trains run on the BCR's trackage between Chilliwack and Hope. Parts of the former W&BC right-of-way between Chilliwack and Hope were used in the construction of the Inter-Dominion Highway.
Electrification of the Cloverdale–Abbotsford section was completed in 1939, and in 1942 that section was double tracked; the Abbotsford–Chilliwack section was electrified in 1950.
Services
Freight
Numerous US-bound freight trains use this line each day between Cloverdale and Abbotsford. Freight traffic is considerably lighter east of Abbotsford, as traffic between Vancouver and points east of Hope is generally routed via the shorter BC Rail route; consequently, the only scheduled freight train on this line is a daily wayfreight.
Passenger
The W&BC operates a number of passenger services on this line.
The various categories of passenger service are defined by the Ministry of Labour, Industry & Railways in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport & Communications; these categories are applicable to and used by all railways providing passenger service in British Columbia. Like all other railways in BC, ticket prices for BC Rail passenger trains are based on the Ministry's Schedule of Railway Fares.
Limited Express
The W&BC operates one seasonal Limited Express on the VV&E Line making very few or no intermediate stops.
- 431/432 Hozameen Limited: Vancouver (Pacific Central) – Manning Park
- One return trip daily Friday through Sunday, summer timetable only. First and second class chair cars with a cafeteria car, baggage service free of charge to both classes.
Intermediate stops: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope
Express
The W&BC's only Express train on the VV&E Line is an international service. The short-trip surcharge is not applicable to travel occuring entirely inside Washington state on this trains.
- 171/172 Coast–Kootenay: Vancouver (Pacific Central) – Nelson
- Daily service with a morning departure from each end. First and second class chair cars only (no sleeping accomodations), with a cafeteria car; baggage handling free of charge to first class passengers, and available to second class passengers with a surcharge. This train does not stop anywhere on the section between Bridesville and West Midway.
Intermediate stops:- BC: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope, Manning Park, Allenby, Princeton, Keremeyus, Chopaka (BC and US customs checks)
- Washington: Oroville, Molson, Curlew, Danville (BC and US customs checks)
- BC: Grand Forks, Billings (BC and US customs checks)
- Washington: Kettle Falls, Boundary (US customs checks)
- BC: Fort Sheppard (BC and US customs checks), Columbia Gardens, Salmo
Local
Local trains are passenger trains that make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. Most are second-class only with seat-side drink and snack service, but some trains covering longer distances have first class chair cars and a cafeteria car; none of the domestic Local trains do not have baggage handling, and they do not have official names, instead they have only numbers.
- 1701.1-2/1702.1-2: Vancouver (Pacific Central) – Princeton
- Two daily return trips, first and second class with a cafeteria car. Runs between Pacific Central Station and Mud Bay on the Semiahmoo Line.
Commuter services
The W&BC also operates a RailBus service under contract to the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority between Cloverdale and Abbotsford. Fares are fully integrated into the GVTA fare structure.
Route
A yellow background indicates an electrified section, a grey background indicates a closed section.
● - Scheduled Limited Express, Express, and Local stop
• - Local and RailBus (Cloverdale–Abbotsford) stop only
| - No passenger service
| Station | Milepost | Tariff-miles from prev. stn. |
Connecting lines | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloverdale | 0.0 | 0 | Fraser Valley Line (BCH) New Westminster Southern Line Victoria Terminal Line |
||
| Langley | 3.3 | 3 | - | Passenger only | |
| Murrayville | 7.5 | 4 | - | Passenger only | |
| Hopington | 10.9 | 3 | - | Passenger only | |
| Aldergrove | 15.4 | 5 | - | ||
| Aberdeen | 18.9 | 3 | - | Passenger only | |
| Townline Hill | 21.7 | 3 | - | Passenger only | |
| Abbotsford | 25.5 | 4 | Sumas Crossing Line Bellingham & Northern Line (NWP) Fraser Valley Line (BCH) |
||
| McMillan | 27.7 | 2 | - | ||
| Sumas Prairie | 31.2 | 4 | - | ||
| Greendale | 38.5 | 7 | - | ||
| Atchelitz | 40.4 | 2 | - | ||
| BCR Junction | 43.9 | - | Inter-Dominion Line (BCR) | Junction only, no commercial service | |
| Chilliwack BCR | 44.8 | 4 | Fraser Valley Line (BCH) Inter-Dominion Line (BCR) |
WB&C has running rights on Inter-Dominion Line between Chilliwack and Hope | |
| Atchelitz | 40.4 | 2 | - | ||
| Chilliwack W&BC | 43.8 | 3 | - | ||
| Bridal Falls | 53.1 | 9 | - | ||
| Cheam | 59.4 | 6 | - | ||
| Laidlaw | 65.8 | 6 | - | ||
| Ruby Creek | 67.6 | 2 | - | ||
| Silver Creek | 74.0 | 6 | - | ||
| BCR Junction | 75.3 | - | - | ||
| Hope | 75.6 | 2 | Manning Park Line Inter-Dominion Line (BCR) |
WB&C has running rights on Inter-Dominion Line between Chilliwack and Hope | |