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At the end of October, BC Rail Ltd.’s Budd Rail diesel cars will have reached the end of their useful life — 50 years — so Canada’s third-largest railway plans to discontinue Cariboo Prospector passenger train service rather than invest the nearly $19 million it would cost to refurbish the rail service.



But many members of the Seton Lake Indian Band depend on the rail shuttle service to travel 37 miles between D’Arcy and Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada.



To retain the residents’ primary means of transportation, the Indian band and BC Rail recently entered an agreement under which BC Rail would supply and operate two newly acquired rail shuttle vehicles, and the Seton Lake Band would manager the passenger bookings, ticket sales and revenue collection, marketing, and customer service.



"We have reached a solution that is affordable, and that draws on the resources of both BC Rail and the Seton Lake Indian Band," said Mark Mudie, BC Rail president and chief operating officer, in a prepared statement.