Transport 2000 Canada Hotline

18 November 2000

Summary

1 - City of Ottawa Election

Mayor elect Bob Chiarelli has a vision to expand the trial diesel LRT service as soon as possible. Other links include east-west, airport, Hull and downtown Ottawa.The recent municipal election returned a number of councillors who supported the light rail program at Ottawa-Carleton: Jacques Legendre, Clive Doucet, Madeline Merrieur (acclaimed), Herb Kreling, and Alex Munter (acclaimed).

Councillor Linda Davis, an early supporter of light rail, lost to Shawn Little. Skeptics Wendy Stewart, Michelle Bellemaire, and Gord Hunter were re-elected. Councillor Al Loney lost to Rick Chiarelli. Loney was head of the transit commission for the past three years during which ridership turned up after many years of decline. He also supported the light rail pilot project. New Trains in DenmarkThe Danish Government has approved a $USD703 million plan to purchase new passenger trains to improve frequencies on several corridors.

2 - Rail Upgrades in Denmark

By summer 2001 there will be 15 minute service on the Oresund link to Malmo Sweden. The Copenhagen to Arhus inter city service will be stepped up to half hourly from hourly.

3 - Truckers in for Bumpy Ride

Fuel, wages and insurance will increase trucking costs nine per cent of more in 2001. Sixty per cent of trucking carrier operating costs will face increases in excess of 15 per cent next year. In the past, when dropping revenues coincided with increased costs, maintenance took a hit. This could affect safety.

4 - BNSF/CN Services

BNSF and CN have announced several initiatives to integrate services even though a formal merger of the two railroads is off. CN and BNSF are creating a joint RoadRailer network linking Montreal and Toronto with California and Arizona.

This links CN's general merchandise service from Chicago to the U.S. Southwest. It also links BNSF's Ice Cold Express service from Chicago to Canada. The two railroads also announced an interline carloads service linking Western Canada and the Western U.S.

CN has joined BNSF investing in FreightWise, a web site for Transportation buyers and sellers.

5 - Customs Clearance SNAFUs

Some changes are being made to reduce the delays caused to Amtrak trains due to customs and immigration procedures at the Canada US border.

Currently, there are few delays to the Vancouver-Seattle service, but significant problems for the Maple Leaf, International and Adirondack.

Better luggage tagging will reduce delays on the Maple Leaf and Adirondack. Problems with the International will be addressed if the train continues to operate.

Thank you for calling the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline. For additional information, please contact our web site at:

www.transport2000.ca