Work has begun to remove the rails along the old CN Rail corridor between Kelowna and Coldstream. Residents of Lake Country may have noticed some preparatory hand-work being done recently along portions of the rail corridor.
On a posting on its Facebook Page, the District of Lake Country said CN has awarded the rail removal contract to Westcan Rail Ltd and The rails will be removed starting in Kelowna and moving north to Coldstream. The ties will be removed at a later date followed by work on crossings and intersections.
It’s expected to take much of 2016 and into early 2017 before the final remediation work is done on the corridor, a 47 kilometre stretch from Kelowna to Lake Country, through Okanagan Indian Band traditional territory and ending at the shores of Vernon, in Coldstream.
The rail corridor is still active and there may be some intermittent rail traffic associated with the contract for removal of the rails and ties and remediation of the corridor. The public is requested not to use the corridor while the work is in progress.
CN will remove the rails and ties as well as do environmental remediation work as part of the contract to sell the corridor for the municipalities. The communities involved will look to develop the stretch into a trail as its first move, once CN is done with its work.
The OKIB is not taking part in the development team the municipalities have put together at this point
Residents are reminded that the Rail Corridor property is an undeveloped recreational trail and not routinely maintained. Refer to kelowna.ca/OKRailCorridor for the most up-to-date information.