Transport 2000 Canada Hotline

29 December 2000

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline for 29 December 2000, John Pearce reporting.

Year 2000 in Review

With the New Year fast approaching, it's a good time to look at some of the positive developments in public transport in the past year, what we might expect in the coming year, and how Transport 2000 has had a significant influence on many of these.

A major project of Transport 2000 came to fruition in April, when David Collenette, federal Minister of Transport, announced $402 million in capital funds for VIA Rail to invest in track, stations, and rolling stock improvements. $170 million in operating funds has also been guaranteed annually for the next 10 years. Early work involves track upgrades to cut 30 minutes from Ottawa-Montreal, Ottawa-Toronto, and possibly some Toronto-Windsor trips. It was also announced in mid-December that 64 completed European Nightstock cars and 75 unassembled shells and parts have just been purchased for use in the Quebec-Windsor "corridor" and on the Gaspe and Maritime overnight trains. The first trains should see "corridor" service in the fall of 2001. The ex-CP fleet of Ocean/Chaleur (eastern) cars will be used to enhance service in western Canada.
In Vancouver, the West Coast Express commuter trains continued to grow, with 9 additional bi-level cars arriving to allow longer trains while an FP59 locomotive leased from Seattle for a year. About 250 new trolley buses were ordered for delivery in 2003, making good use of "clean" hydro power available in B.C. Transit funding will come from an added 4 cent per litre slice of provincial gasoline tax and a sales tax on off-street paid parking.
The Province of Alberta has dedicated 5 cents per litre of gas tax to improvements in transit in Calgary and Edmonton. In October, Edmonton city council approved a $100 million, 1 km LRT extension south from underground at the University to the surface near the hospital campus. This should permit an 8 km southward extension of the LRT to Southgate and the Heritage transit centre by 2010.
In Manitoba, VIA obtained a 3-year lease on 5 Amtrak sleepers and refurbished them for service on the Winnipeg-Churchill "Hudson Bay". This released badly needed sleepers for use in summer and early fall western service.
As a result of a tragic passenger train accident in Thamesville, Ontario, Transport Canada and CN agreed on CTC signal installation on dark lines between Glencoe and Chatham and Hamilton and Niagara to accompany conversion from double to mostly single track. Thanks to Transport Canada's $400 million capital grant to VIA, track will be upgraded and signals restored and improved between Ottawa and Coteau Station enroute to Montreal.
In the Toronto area, GO Lakeshore's hourly off-peak daytime service has been restored from Oakville to Burlington in the west and Pickering to Oshawa in the east. Minor frequency improvements occurred on the Bradford and Stouffville lines as well.
Tim Lane and David Jeanes of our Ottawa chapter have been instrumental in bringing to life a light rail system on 8 km. of a lightly used CP Rail track. Three Talent DMU trains will arrive this winter and service should begin before summer linking busways with government office clusters, Carleton University, and shopping malls.
Montreal's commuter rail network grew substantially in 2000 with the Jean Talon to Blainville line reaching 12 round trips per day, with 3 of those extending downtown to Windsor Station. Service on the South Shore line (CN Quebec-Maritimes line) began again with one inbound and two outbound trips each weekday. Up to 5 round trips per day are expected once the double track line receives bi-directional signals.
In the Maritimes, a Prince Edward Island transportation study has recommended a province wide public transport system supported by government funding. P.E.I. environmentalists and Transport 2000 Atlantic are pressing for implementation of this recommendation.
Halifax's new mayor, Peter Kelly, is a promoter of commuter rail and transit in general. The election campaign was unusual in that one of the major issues was public transportation and the former mayor Walter Fitzgerald was NOT an enthusiastic supporter.
With pressure from Transport 2000, rail passenger service was restored from Halifax to Cape Breton in the form of a once-weekly luxury tourist train using eastern transcontinental coaches and domes. The service, which needs more marketing to grow ridership, will run from June to October in 2001, cutting 90 minutes from its year 2000 leisurely schedule.
In Newfoundland, the Marine Atlantic ferry service was augmented by a fast catamaran ferry this past summer to relieve overcrowding on the 3-vessel fleet. However Transport 2000 was pleased that its recommendation for a permanent conventional overnight boat with good connections with interurban bus services was chosen. It will have adequate sleeping berths, and will arrive this coming spring. The Leif Ericson (formerly Stena Challenger), is a veteran of the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
In 2001 we look for the possibility of a junior minister of Urban Transit in the federal cabinet. VIA and the Montreal and Toronto commuter systems may co-operate to offer extended weekend services to places like Sherbrooke or Muskoka using equipment that would otherwise be idle. Improved airport services may also be included in the portfolio.
Cross-border services may be upgraded. Amtrak has been working with U.S. Customs and Immigration officials to cut border stops of over an hour and frequent further delays. Montreal-New York services could follow the Vancouver-Seattle pattern. Trains in Ontario which have several stops between Toronto and the border will be expedited with a new carry-on baggage tag system and new advance identification systems for passengers done through the ticketing procedure. Amtrak will not be bound to hold the train for those isolated passengers who may be detained unduly. If the improved system works, the Niagara (Ont.) Chamber of Commerce may be rewarded in its efforts to have more trains linking the Niagara peninsula to Toronto and Buffalo.
With continued fuel price hikes and scarcity, rail container and piggyback traffic should continue to grow in 2001. CN intermodal traffic is up 13% over last year, and CP "Expressway" quick loading piggyback trains are being upgraded to 6-hourly frequency in the Montreal-Toronto-Detroit corridor. New high-speed intermodal domestic container and piggyback truck trains on the Toronto-Montreal-Moncton-Halifax route now rival passenger train speeds.

Finally...

Transport 2000 wishes all its members and friends the very best in the coming year 2001, and invites you to support us through membership or tax deductible donations.

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