CP Rail is asking those along the Arbutus corridor to remove property along the train tracks by the

You should never grow food on rail property without a soil study for hazardous chemicals.

AS a former conductor and a person that has a lot of rail road legal experience, from what I see here on this news posting and my research I would have to say that CP is being VERY kind in their approach. Traditionally the government and legal have sided with the rail roads. Their land rights will 99% of the time cover not only the land but also the water and mineral rights, which for a lot of people that own a home or business think they own, but they don't. The C.P. really does have the right to just come through and plow everything 50 foot on either side of the rail. They do not need an environment study, nor permission they can just do it. Traditionally when the rail was laid they purchased the right of way on both sides in perpetuity. Only the Rail Road (C.P. in this case) can release that clause of their contract. And then and only then they must remove ALL tracks and ties. also they can sell the land to the state OR a private person BUT the mineral right and water rights will either stay with the rail road OR go to the state. Sorry folks it is that simple. I have seen it done over and over and the "squatters" or trespassers as they will be referred to will be removed and they will have no say, there is no law that says since the rail has not run in x years that it reverts to whomever is using the land and considers it "abandoned"

REACTIVATE THE LINE!

I think it's very nice of CP rail to allow the community to use their land for a little while

Just so everyone knows, this story was from 2014. CP sold off the corridor in 2016 and this line is now a public greenway.

oh no, the community garden must move --- think of the children!

put the line back in service

"I am Arbutus of Borg. Your back gardens will be assimilated"

This happened in Tijuana, Mexico, to a line that was still in service. They had trains running 3 times a week and people still built homes and moved in on the right of way. The government had to buy land and pay them to move off. The right of way in North America is 100 feet wide with the tracks usually centered on it, so if you measure 50 feet from the center of the track, that is the boundary. In some places, in Mexico and elsewhere, criminals have claimed to own parts of the right of way and have sold the land to ignorant poor people. It is a cruel thing, but criminals are seldom nice people.

They need to put all tracks back in service

Man I love seeing raillines put back in service

The tracks were sold to the City of Vancouver, and they eventually created a walking and cycling path along most of it, with plans to build an LRT along it in the 2030s. The Arbutus Greenway is currently the nicest new addition to the City, which not too many people outside of Vancouver know about. Still, it's exploded with popularity, and more people use it every day. I daresay it might have the same impact as the Stanley Park Seawall. It also seems as though the pedestrian path is being extended along granville street bridge downtown.

13 years, that's nothing! The G&U south of Grafton was inactive from the 1980s until 2008. That's 30 years folks, and the weed capital of the world (not Seattle surprisingly) was very upset when gorgeous GP9s a CF7 and BLE F7 720A began working. Let's be realistic, rail is making a comeback. If you don't like it, get out the way!

Good its not their property its CP Rail's

Just roll a train down there smashing everything that gets in its way. The community garden, lawn chairs, bbq grills, club houses. Everything will be taken care of by the train and everything will be all cleared out of there then. Problem solved.

Although CP has sold this rail line already, The comments on here from some, or one those who are against the company for taking back there rail property is complete asinine thinking at best. The cost to ship extreme heavy goods across long distance far outweighs the cost to ship those same goods the same distance with multiple trucks. Many goods are too heavy to be ship in the mass quantities that trains ship on a daily bases. In spite of how much trains hold in fuel they are much more fuel efficient than using trucks and have a greater cost savings per freight mile than trunks when it comes to shipping the largest of largest amounts of freight long distance. The only other mode of transportation that beats the cost of rail shipping is river barge. Just think about it for a moment. Due to the limitations of road weight allowed per mile on federal hyways in both the us and Canada a single truck is limited on its payload as it is shipped at an average of 450, 500 or so miles with one driver, while a train can ship 80 times more payload with greater weight allowance to a distance greater than 1,200 miles without needed to refuel. Without trains goods will cost several times greater than what they are now.

As a kid in thr 60s, we used to pull r old Buicks, Olds, etc onto abandoned tracks near our house. Once u let some air out of the tires & got car positioned on tracks, the car would travel down the tracks with trans in "D" & no accelerator - no need to steer. We'd sit on hood & trunk & cruise the rails.

There are videos of a rail line in Thailand I think running through a market. People have to fold up their awnings and move their wares, giving it barely inches to pass at a few mph. The rail line is okay with them being there it seems.

20 years ago I worked a job in Albany, NY. Some guy had built about a quarter of his garage on Williams Comm. Co. property. Since it wasn't used for years, no one said anything until we went to build on it. NY state said he could keep it since no one said anything in the allotted time. Something about squatter's rights under adverse possession.

I’m sure the railroad would permit the community garden so long as the train can pass safely without posing a risk to anyone. Rights-of-way we’re given wide berths in order to accommodate variations possibly needed for more favorable conditions in which to lay track, but once it’s already built, the RR is not in the business of sticking it to anyone.