It’s been more than twelve years since passenger rail on Vancouver Island ground to a halt.

Back in the 19th century, governments gave away around two million acres of land on southeastern Vancouver Island to get The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway built. Now it sits abandoned.

But the unbroken 289 kilometre corridor stretching from Esquilmalt to Courtenay is still almost entirely intact.

In March, a small portion of the land was returned to the Snaw'naw'as First Nation. At the same time, the provincial government announced it would provide 18 million dollars to study the future of the corridor.