Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

15 March 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 645, recorded on 15 March 2002, Harry Gow reporting.

In this issue...

In this issue, rail, air and transit items.

1 - Reprieve for Vancouver Island passenger service

Passenger service on Vancouver Island has been granted a last-minute reprieve, following a series of negotiations between VIA Rail, CPR and various Island businesses and residents. VIA trains 198 and 199 were originally to have been terminated on March 10th. Now, the RDC trainset will operate on RailAmerica subsidiary E & N until April 15th.

VIA, CPR, the Cowichan Tribes TDC, Superior Propane and Port Hope Shipyards kicked in $150,000 cash and services in a joint effort to keep the trains running. Additional meetings will be held in an effort to continue operations beyond that date. - From Trainsmag.com News, Mon. Mar. 11th.

2 - Ontario Northland bidding update

CNR is apparently ahead of an internal ONR group in its bid to the Ontario Government to take over Ontario Northland freight and passenger trains service.

3 - More train than plane riders in U.S. Northeast corridor

For the first time in Amtrak history, more people are taking the train between Washington and New York than are flying. Amtrak this week said it had 52% of the combined air-rail endpoint-to-endpoint market in the last 3 months of 2001.

4 - Trenton Junction VIA station re-opens

Transport 2000 welcomed the announcement Friday by Minister of Transport David Collenette and Lyle Vanclief, Minister of Agriculture and MP for Price Edward-Hastings. CFB Trenton is the largest Air Force base in Canada and the station re-opening will permit easy movement of military personnel and their families between HQ in Ottawa and Trenton and it will allow Trenton residents to spend a full day in Toronto with the new morning departure. T2000 said in a press release that the government must direct VIA to support rural Canada by re-opening closed stations and stopping the closure of others. Schedule times at such stations as Trenton, Port Hope and Napanee must be set so as to permit people to get to the big city early enough to make the train trip worthwhile.

5 - Air security fee fallout predicted

Total chaos predicted over air fee (Ottawa Citizen): The scramble to bring in the new $24 security fee will cause chaos for travel agents and airlines and could result in some travellers paying the charge three times on a single trip, industry representatives warned ... (if the travellers fly connecting flights on unaffiliated airlines, according to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada).

6 - Buying gas in bulk

Motorists fed up with wildly-fluctuating gas prices can pay in advance for up to 1000 litres of gasoline at a fixed price ... in Ottawa and elsewhere in Southern Ontario in an experiment by Sunoco Inc.

7 - Bombardier looks for Québec tax relief

Bombardier Inc. is fighting Québec's revenue department over the amount of capital tax it has been assessed over a number of years. Bombardier has launched a legal challenge in Québec Superior Court, seeking relief ... for the fiscal years 1991, 1992, 1998 and 1999.

8 - Saving the economy by losing the environment

Canada's willingness to ratify the Kyoto protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions appeared to take a hit Thursday. Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal suggested at the Globe 2002 conference on business and the environment would depend on Canada's ability to meet its targets, the costs and the impacts on industry and regions. (Ottawa Sun).

"From the other side of its mouth", the federal government has assembled a new report to debunk dire forecasts by Alberta and business groups that the Kyoto Protocol will devastate the Canadian economy... "Costs of Kyoto -- What We Know", to be released shortly, rejects Kyoto opponents' predictions." The $40-billion estimate ... is based on a worst-case and unrealistic scenario that assumed that Canada was the only country in the world that took action to reduce emissions" says the Environment Canada document, obtained by the Globe and Mail.

9 - Alstom wins German low-floor tram contract

Alstom Transport has won an order for 28 100km/h three-car low-floor tram-trains for the Kassel (Germany) region. Ten of the sets will be diesel-hybrid trains with roof -mounted diesel engines capable of operating seamlessly between the 750 dc LRV tracks in the city centre and the non-electrified tracks in the suburbs. The other 18 sets are bi-current (750V dc and 15kV 16 2/3Hz ac). [Comment: The diesel-electric sets might be useful in such places as Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton?] - (News from International Railway Journal for Feb. 2002).

10 - Transport 2000 Canada Annual General Meeting

Transport 2000 Canada's AGM will be held in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon 4 May 2002 at the Parkhill Hotel, 1160 Davie St. Vancouver; 1 800 663.1425. Board meetings will occur Friday evening and Saturday morning beforehand. There will be a speaker at the AGM, and a transit tour may be arranged for Sunday.

Thanks to Trains, NARP and Post Time for items.

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

www.transport2000.ca.