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Delta South MLA calls high-speed rail study a ‘crazy announcement’

‘You’d be better off to move to Seattle’ than to travel to Vancouver from the Lower Mainland
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Delta South MLA Ian Paton was not happy with the B.C. government’s announcement of their intent to contribute $300,000 to a high-speed rail study between Vancouver and the States. (Twitter photo)

Opposition MLA Ian Paton is not impressed with the government’s decision to contribute $300,000 to a business case study on a high-speed rail line between Vancouver and Seattle.

The study will look at the feasibility of running a high-speed rail line between Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Expected to cost between $24 and $42 billion, the potential rail could see passengers travelling between Vancouver and Seattle in less than an hour.

RELATED: B.C. pitches in for Vancouver-Seattle high-speed rail study

Delta South representative Paton took to Twitter earlier today to vent his frustration about the contribution.

“I’ll tell you, it takes a lot more than 40 minutes just to get from South Surrey into Vancouver most mornings through this old George Massey Tunnel,” he said.

The George Massey Tunnel, and the delay on a replacement, has been a point of contention with Paton in both his role as a Liberal MLA and Delta councillor.

Under the previous Liberal government, the George Massey Tunnel was slated to be replaced with a 10-lane bridge by 2022. However, when the NDP took power in the summer of 2017, that project was put on hold.

The tunnel replacement project is currently in the final stages of an independent technical review. The results are expected to be released this spring.

RELATED: George Massey Tunnel replacement could have been cheaper than expected

“Maybe you’d be better off to move to Seattle and take this new train ride,” Paton said. “You could be in downtown Vancouver faster than you could using the old George Massey Tunnel.”



grace.kennedy@northdeltareporter.com

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