Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

17 December 2001

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 632, recorded on 17 December 2001, our 25th anniversary year, Harry Gow reporting.

We apologize for the late delivery. We are catching up, as last week's issue was recorded several days late.

In this issue...

In this issue, rail, transit and truck items:

1 - International passengers forced to take customs detour at the border

(Trains.com) Passengers aboard the Toronto - Chicago International can expect to take a bus across the U.S./Canada border because of increased security and more intensive customs inspections implemented after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

Among the four cross-border passenger trains, the cumbersome bus procedure is unique to the International. And that has riled rail advocates and some passengers on both sides of the border. "The situation of International railway passengers who must cross the border on a bus is illustrative of the anti-rail attitudes of the two administrations," says Harry Gow, who heads Transport 2000, a Canadian advocacy group. "The harassment of rail passengers involves double inconvenience, as they must also carry off and on their baggage for inspection at Port Huron."

Will this have a negative effect on the train, run jointly by Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada? "Off course I think it's bad for Amtrak and VIA. It's not a good situation," says Ross Capon, executive director of NARP. Cross-border ridership of the train is already low. On a typical day, the International averages between eight and fifteen cross-border passengers, VIA spokeswoman Catherine Kaloutsky said.

2 - End of an era for VIA's fleet of LRCs

(trains.com) VIA Rail Canada LRC 6907, the last Alco-powered diesel in regular N.A. passenger service, has completed what is expected to be its last run. VIA has been sidelining its few remaining operable LRCs as new P42DCs - the Canadian railroad's first GE locomotives - are placed in service. A week ago, a half-dozen of the Bombardier-built LRCs were holding down assignments on trains in the Toronto - Montreal - Quebec City corridor. However, with each P42 that came on line, an LRC was withdrawn from service.

3 - Passenger rail returns to Maine

NARP Hotline #221 stated that "Bells rang, horns blew, and large crowds gathered today as passenger rail service was reintroduced between Boston and Portland, after a 37-year absence." A 12-car inaugural train filled with invited guests - including NARP President Alan Yorker, NARP Vice President (TrainRiders/Northeast President) Wayne Davis, and NARP Executive Director Ross Capon. Revenue service began the following day. TrainRiders/Northeast has waged a long, 12 year, often disheartening campaign to start the service. They were backed by the voters and government of Maine, but often stymied by opponents - including host railroad Guilford and the government and leading newspapers of New Hampshire - but now are already looking to future growth. Though the road was long, today represents a triumph of successful grassroots efforts.

4 - Bombardier signs huge rail deal

(Ottawa Citizen, 14 Dec 01) Bombardier Transportation has nailed the most lucrative contract of its existence, a staggering $2.3 billion train order from France's state-owned railway. The deal, signed recently in Paris, is the biggest contract the railway has ever awarded to a foreign company. Bombardier snatched it out of the hands of French rival Alstom. The other bidder was Siemens Transportation Systems Inc.

"This is really a major win for Bombardier," said analyst Ted Cho, of Bank of America Securities in New York. Bombardier will deliver 500 high-capacity regional express trains starting in the first quarter of 2004. In the firm portion of the deal, it will land an initial 192 trains worth $980 million at a rate reaching eight trains per month.

5 - E & N passenger train's death rattle

(Victoria Times Colonist) The historic E & N Dayliner train, once an essential engine of Island life, faces shutdown by mid-March unless VIA Rail comes up with more money to cover rising costs. Rail America, which operates the train for VIA, said recently it must charge more because it has been forced to halt its freight service on the E & N line after its top customer switched to transport trucks. Without freight service revenue helping to pay costs, Rail America would lose money if it continued to run the passenger service, the company said. VIA has so far refused to pay more.

6 - Change of position by Canadian Trucking Alliance re hours of work for truckers

(Ottawa Citizen, 12 Dec 01) After intense pressure from safety advocates, and a series of investigative stories in the Citizen, the influential Canadian Trucking Alliance has changed its position on the number of hours truckers should be allowed to drive. The CTA, which presented its new position recently to the federal government's transport committee, is now recommending that truckers be allowed to drive for a maximum of 13 consecutive hours without a break, abandoning the 14-consecutive-hour stance it has held through years of heated debate.

However, several opposition MPs on the committee said the CTA concession does not go far enough. "Truck drivers will be on the road for 84 hours a week. I have a major problem with that," said Manitoba NDP MP Bev Desjarlais. "Now you're accepting 13 hours," Block Quebecois MP Mario Laframboise told the Teamsters union delegation. "I have trouble with that. You would like things to be settled, but I think we're missing an opportunity here."

7 - Flaherty backs fuel tax sharing

(Ottawa Citizen) Ontario's deputy premier says he will explore giving municipalities a cut of the lucrative fuel tax to help cash-strapped cities. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said municipalities across the province need a new, reliable source of funding. "It may be necessary and helpful to have some additional revenue sharing," Mr. Flaherty said. "A gasoline tax is one example. I'm open-minded on that." "We have very large municipalities in the City of Ottawa and City of Toronto," Mr. Flaherty said. "There are substantial transit and transportation needs. They can't do it on their own." Mr. Flaherty is the first provincial minister to back giving municipalities a share of the fuel tax.

8 - Opinion poll finds rail beats road

A public opinion poll in Ottawa showed that two-thirds of those surveyed want light rail extensions to be the top priority over road construction.

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

www.transport2000.ca.