Thank you for calling the Transport 2000 Hotline, following the Federal election. Harry Gow reporting.
In this issue, election results and public transport and other rail, air and transit issues.
Note the re-election of other pro-rail Liberals such as Roger Galloway of Sarnia. The Canadian Alliance, with its program to privatise and defund VIA, will have to wait for 4 years to try again to convince Canadians that the rail passenger network should be dismantled.
Pro passenger rail MPs from all the other parties were re-elected. However, re-election defeats came to some NDP candidates. The party has supportted federal funds for transit projects. As for federal government funds for transit, any help from the feds on this file will have to come from the Liberals whose support has been limited (e.g. supporting a Quebec plan for a Montreal-South shore LRT line over the Expo ice bridge.)
In Saint John, New Brunswick, Elsie Wayne was re-elected and this maintains a solid PC supporter in the HOC.
The Bloc's Michel Guimond was re-elected, he is strong rail supporter. Overall the election doesn't change much but Transport 2000 faces a less friendly House Of Commons if the lost public transit supporter MPs are not made up for by newcomers.
In brief, the worst has been avoided, the real work for Transport 2000 now starts again.
O'Brien referred to what CP might be a "pure play in", suggesting that rail was not as lucrative for growth as the company's other sectors.
Winnie Siu of Vancouver's Salman Partners speculated CP could conduct an initial public offering (IPO) for its railway, selling it to an American rail firm. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board continues to have a ban on rail mergers, which may need to be lifted before that can happen. There is also the current trend towards rail company consolidations e.g. CN and Illinois Central.
CN and CP claim to have too much rail capacity between Toronto and Winnipeg. Beware, they may try to abandon one transcontinental mainline. This is more or less of a fallout from the NAFTA agreement where most traffic is now diverted towards the US as opposed to east-west Canadian traffic.
The last 3 years seen an upswing in OC Transpo ridership but there are fears regular winter commuters could face a bus shortage. Outgoing OC Transpo Chair Al Loney said buses across the city are already running at standing room only levels and while the winter rush does not create big boom in ridership, commuters could be riding shoulder to shoulder during the snowy season.
However, Ottawa riders will get a belated Christmas present in January when transit adds 37 18-metre long articulated buses to its aging fleet. But Mr Loney admits new buses not going to be a panacea to public transit problem: "It's tight very tight what we have done is not retired old buses so are keeping more in the fleet."
Later in the story, Harry Gow blamed the Ontario Government for cancelling transit funding.
The company operating the rail link between Sydney International Airport and the city's central business district ran into trouble 6 months after opening. The company defaulted on a bank point payment, leaving it open to receivership. Lack of poor co-operation from the local rail authority was cited. New South Wales labour government blames its predecessors for a contract requiring a public bailout if the link goes under.
A state inquiry into a collision between Indian Pacific transcontinental passenger train and a commuter plane had also blamed. There are accusations of divided attention on the part of authorities too interested in outside work and not enough in service and safety.
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