Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

15 February 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 641, recorded on 15 February 2002, Harry Gow reporting.

In this issue...

1 - Renaissance rail car concerns in the Atlantic

John Pearce, President of Transport 2000 Atlantic, has written two critiques of VIA's Renaissance Program as applied to Eastern Canada. Transport 2000 Steering Committee has received these positively and action will be taken on a progressive basis to combat capacity cuts and accommodation downgrades on Eastern Services. VIA Rail has shown some openness to retaining one Budd "Canadian" set in the east, perhaps on the Chaleur.

2 - Royal Hudson restoration plans

A group of citizens has presented plans to restore and operate the Royal Hudson (#2860) steam locomotive and received a good reception. Watch this space for further developments.

3 - Transit promotion and Winterlude

The NCC has not made enough effort to promote the Ottawa O-Train and the transitway for Winterlude festivities, according to Transport 2000 Canada president, Harry Gow. He stated "there's been no publicity that public transit is even available". He said there's been "no effort" top inform the public that light rail and OC Transpo buses are the best way to get to Dow's Lake and downtown, and there are few signs near Dow's Lake to tell people how to get to the nearby Carling O-Train station. Transport 2000 Canada will meet with the NCC next week.

4 - Bombardier rail cars for Denmark

Bombardier Inc.'s transportation unit has won a $50 million order to build railcars for use by Denmark State Railway. Bombardier said it won an order from Porterbrook Leasing Company Ltd. of Britain to supply 25 double-deck cars. Porterbrook will lease the vehicles to Danish State Railways for regional passenger transit. The cars will be built by Bombardier in Gorlitz, Germany.

5 - More bridges not seen as Montreal solution

Montreal commuters neither want nor need another bridge connecting the South Shore to the island, the president of the Metropolitan Transit Agency told a provincial inquiry into traffic congestion recently. Florence Junca-Adenot said ideas like reserved bus lanes, car-pooling, park-and-ride stations and a light rail system are better alternatives to building another bridge.

6 - Ottawa light rail expenses attacked

Ottawa's light-rail pilot project, once projected to cost $16 million, is approaching the $30 million mark according to an article in the Ottawa Citizen. Those numbers are contained in the 2002 draft budget estimates, released last week. According to the capital budget documents, the project needs $4 million this year for "passenger safety and security items, setting up maintenance facilities, and developing rules and processes to meet regulatory requirements and training." The budget calls for another $1.3 million in 2003. The rest of this article contains fulminations by LRT opponents. David Jeanes is preparing a reply.

7 - Toronto Airport rail link defended

In a recent letter to the editor of the Toronto Star, a reader stated, "I disagree with David Carr. (re: Express train to airport costly and unnecessary, Opinion, Feb 4). We need a high-speed rail link between Union Station and Pearson International Airport. It is a service and a convenience that this city should be offering."

"Toronto is a major urban centre equipped with a subway system; most equivalent cities - or international hubs - have metro lines running directly to their airports. For example, JFK in New York is just a five-minute bus ride away from a subway station. And the international airport in Mexico City has its subway platforms right inside the terminal. In both cases, you can travel from the airport to the downtown for only a few bucks or pesos. Toronto should provide similar facilities, because it will attract travellers and will be a benefit to residents."

8 - Ottawa paratransit contracting plans

City of Ottawa staff are recommending that Para Transpo service be contracted out to a British bus company and the local West-Way taxi company. According to the city report recommending the winning bids, FirstBus Canada, the Regina-based Canadian arm of FirstBus plc of Britain, will get the five-year, $67.3 million contract to provide Para Transpo vans for riders in wheelchairs.

Those who know the FirstBus Group in Britain are surprised by this choice. Our reps don't read the transit and rail journals.

9 - WestJet flies new stocks

WestJet Airlines Ltd. is cashing in on its soaring popularity with a share offering to raise up to $82.5 million. The Calgary-based carrier, which Wednesday announced a three-for-two stock split, said it has struck a bought deal with a syndicate led by CIBC World Markets Inc. and HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. to sell 2.5 million shares at $27.50 each.

10 - Bombardier rail car contract

Bombardier Inc.'s transport division has won a British contract to build 127 diesel-electric rail car systems that could generate nearly $1 billion in revenue for the global passenger train maker. The value of the contract, which also includes an initial four-year maintenance portion, is worth about $512 million, rising to a potential $962 million if the maintenance services portion is extended to its maximum of 15 years.

11 - Hockey flight flap

According to an article in the National Post (15 Feb 02), a Michigan man was forced to drive his peewee hockey team's gear 1100 kilometres to a Quebec City hockey tournament recently after he was ejected from an Air Ontario flight for complaining that their equipment was still on the tarmac. The team scrambled to get sticks for its first game because Kevin Cahill, 44, the manager was still en route.

12 - Amtrak plans long-distance service cuts

A recent article in the Toronto Star (7 Feb 02) stated that Amtrak plans to cut service. Amtrak officials have compiled a tentative list of 18 long-distance routes that could be cut this fall unless the U.S. government drastically increases the money it spends on passenger rail. Travellers could no longer get on a train in the northeastern U.S. and connect all the way to California, or board in Florida and reach the Pacific Northwest if Amtrak goes ahead with threatened cuts to long-distance trains.

The scaled-back passenger train network would consist primarily of several lines in the NE, the Auto Train between Virginia and Florida, connections between Chicago and other midwest cities, and a number of routes inside California. Amtrak says it will cancel long-distance routes unless it receives $1.2 billion in the 2003 budget year, which begins in October. T2000 comment: Is this a musical ride gambit?

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

www.transport2000.ca.