The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland"
The "Pacific Northern Railway" (PNR) project, a proposed interregional rail link between BC, the Yukon and Alaska, which was initiated by the Social Credit government under Premier W.A.C. Bennett in the late 1950's, was one of the most ambitious provincial transportation megaprojects...
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ftubcjournals:oai:ojs.library.ubc.ca:article/2516 2023-05-15T18:49:03+02:00 The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" Taylor, Lawrence Douglas 2012-07-19 application/pdf application/msword image/tiff http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 eng eng The University of British Columbia http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/183693 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187363 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187368 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187369 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187394 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187395 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187396 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187397 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g183693 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187363 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187368 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187369 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187394 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187395 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187396 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187397 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516 doi:10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly; No. 175: Autumn 2012; 35-56 0005-2949 10.14288/bcs.v0i175 Pacific Northern Railway W.A.C. Bennett railways economic development northern development monorail Axel Wenner-Gren and corporation History of Canada info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2012 ftubcjournals https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175 2023-01-04T07:47:27Z The "Pacific Northern Railway" (PNR) project, a proposed interregional rail link between BC, the Yukon and Alaska, which was initiated by the Social Credit government under Premier W.A.C. Bennett in the late 1950's, was one of the most ambitious provincial transportation megaprojects of the twentieth century. Although the project never really entered the construction phase, its failure merits study for what it reveals concerning the dangerous gaps that may arise in government policy between vision and agenda-setting, on the one hand, and, on the other. questions of feasibility and suitability in terms of goals which ought to be pursued rather than those that are largely politically motivated. The rail project failed primarily owing to the gap that existed between the metropolitan-hinterland philosophy of railway building that the Bennett government insisted on pursuing, despite the fact that it was no longer in tune with the times. Its failure was also due to inadequate study and consideration of the appropriate kind of transportation technology for a project of this nature and magnitude. It likewise proved to be a hard sell in an economic sense; both the powerful Swedish Wenner-Gren corporation, which was to originally finance the construction, as well as the US and Canadian federal governments, whose aid was sought once the former had withdrawn from the project, declined to fulfil this role. The most damaging long-range effects of the PNR failure have been the persistence on the part of governments and private initiative, often acting in conjunction with one another, in continuing to pursue the dream of building an interregional railway in the northwest without due consideration of the limitations and pitfalls of such a project. Key words: Pacific Northern Railway, W.A.C. Bennett, monorails, northern development, railways Article in Journal/Newspaper Alaska Yukon Open Access Journal Hosting (University of British Columbia) Canada Pacific Yukon |
institution |
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collection |
Open Access Journal Hosting (University of British Columbia) |
op_collection_id |
ftubcjournals |
language |
English |
topic |
Pacific Northern Railway W.A.C. Bennett railways economic development northern development monorail Axel Wenner-Gren and corporation History of Canada |
spellingShingle |
Pacific Northern Railway W.A.C. Bennett railways economic development northern development monorail Axel Wenner-Gren and corporation History of Canada Taylor, Lawrence Douglas The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
topic_facet |
Pacific Northern Railway W.A.C. Bennett railways economic development northern development monorail Axel Wenner-Gren and corporation History of Canada |
description |
The "Pacific Northern Railway" (PNR) project, a proposed interregional rail link between BC, the Yukon and Alaska, which was initiated by the Social Credit government under Premier W.A.C. Bennett in the late 1950's, was one of the most ambitious provincial transportation megaprojects of the twentieth century. Although the project never really entered the construction phase, its failure merits study for what it reveals concerning the dangerous gaps that may arise in government policy between vision and agenda-setting, on the one hand, and, on the other. questions of feasibility and suitability in terms of goals which ought to be pursued rather than those that are largely politically motivated. The rail project failed primarily owing to the gap that existed between the metropolitan-hinterland philosophy of railway building that the Bennett government insisted on pursuing, despite the fact that it was no longer in tune with the times. Its failure was also due to inadequate study and consideration of the appropriate kind of transportation technology for a project of this nature and magnitude. It likewise proved to be a hard sell in an economic sense; both the powerful Swedish Wenner-Gren corporation, which was to originally finance the construction, as well as the US and Canadian federal governments, whose aid was sought once the former had withdrawn from the project, declined to fulfil this role. The most damaging long-range effects of the PNR failure have been the persistence on the part of governments and private initiative, often acting in conjunction with one another, in continuing to pursue the dream of building an interregional railway in the northwest without due consideration of the limitations and pitfalls of such a project. Key words: Pacific Northern Railway, W.A.C. Bennett, monorails, northern development, railways |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Taylor, Lawrence Douglas |
author_facet |
Taylor, Lawrence Douglas |
author_sort |
Taylor, Lawrence Douglas |
title |
The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
title_short |
The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
title_full |
The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
title_fullStr |
The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Bennett Government's Pacific Northern Railway Project and the Development of British Columbia's "Hinterland" |
title_sort |
bennett government's pacific northern railway project and the development of british columbia's "hinterland" |
publisher |
The University of British Columbia |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 |
geographic |
Canada Pacific Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Canada Pacific Yukon |
genre |
Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly; No. 175: Autumn 2012; 35-56 0005-2949 10.14288/bcs.v0i175 |
op_relation |
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/183693 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187363 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187368 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187369 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187394 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187395 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187396 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516/187397 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g183693 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187363 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187368 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187369 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187394 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187395 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187396 10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516.g187397 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/2516 doi:10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175.2516 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i175 |
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