Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

9 June 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 657, recorded on 9 June 2002, David Leibold reporting on behalf of David Jeanes.

In this issue...

1 - Transport 2000 Quebec celebrates 25th
2 - Irish airline halted by strike
3 - Qantas looking for share of Air New Zealand
4 - New Canadian airline begins service this week
5 - CTA imposes expiry date on new Air Canada surcharge
6 - Gunn now Amtrak chief
7 - CP Ships buys Italian carrier
8 - CUTA national conference
9 - CPR to sell New Brunswick line
10 - Recent disasters
11 - New technology transit bus in Quebec
12 - Quebec Hydrofoil service begins
13 - Halifax decides between more highways or more transit

1 - Transport 2000 Quebec celebrates 25th

Transport 2000 Quebec's Annual Meeting on 8th June marked that association's 25th anniversary. Congratulations are in order on reaching this milestone. Other details of the meeting were not available at the time of this Hotline.

2 - Irish airline halted by strike

A pilot's strike shut down Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus on 30th May. The dispute is over work arrangements. The airline is facing serious financial stresses, having lost 140 million euros last year.

3 - Qantas looking for share of Air New Zealand

Secret talks between Australian airline Qantas and Air New Zealand were revealed late last month. Qantas has been in discussions for the the past year to gain a minority stake in the New Zealand carrier. No formal agreement has been achieved at this time, but the New Zealand government may want to sell some of its 82% stake in Air New Zealand. New Zealand law limits foreign holdings in air carriers to 25%.

4 - New Canadian airline begins service this week

Jetsgo, a new airline started by Royal Airlines' founder Michel Leblanc, is set for its maiden trips on 12th June. Analysts and observers are greeting the start-up with caution in the wake of last year's Canada 3000 failure, but note that the original Royal Airlines was profitable prior to its takeover by Canada 3000. There are also plans to revive the CanJet airline, which was also acquired and then lost by Canada 3000. Website: www.jetsgo.net.

5 - CTA imposes expiry date on new Air Canada surcharge

The Canadian Transportation Agency has told Air Canada to put a time limit on a proposed new international fuel surcharge. The airline wanted to impose an extra $15 for each trip outside the U.S. and Canada effective 10th June. The Agency has decided that surcharges belong only for situations beyond the control of air carriers, and that these should be temporary. As a result, Air Canada was not allowed to have an indefinite surcharge, but must have this expire no later than 120 days after implementation.

CTA: http://www.cta.gc.ca

6 - Gunn now Amtrak chief

David Gunn, who has been general manager for the transit systems in New York and Toronto, became President and CEO of Amtrak effective 15th May.

7 - CP Ships buys Italian carrier

CP Ships will purchase Italian shipping carrier Italia di Navigazione for about USD$40 million. This deal increases CP Ships capacity by 10%, although there is currently a downturn in the container shipping market.

8 - CUTA national conference

The Canadian Urban Transit Association's Annual Conference takes place this week in Ottawa. The event brings together transit agencies and related industry. One panel session will feature MPs from all political parties to discuss federal involvement in transit funding, considering that Canada is the only G-7 nation that does not have an urban transit funding program at the federal level.

Details of the conference are available at the CUTA website: http://www.cutaactu.ca.

9 - CPR to sell New Brunswick line

CPR has put its 12.6-km Edmundston Spur line for sale, a route between Grand Falls and Cyr Junction, near St. Leonard, NB. Parties wishing to purchase the line are to make their intent known by 6th August.

10 - Recent disasters

Five occupants in a van were killed north of Toronto on 7th June when the van was struck by a GO commuter train. It was unclear whether automatic barriers at the crossing were properly working. GO Transit has speculated that the van driver was trying to get around the gates at the level crossing. Some witnesses suggest the gates were raised at the time of the crash. An investigation by police and the Transportation Safety Board is under way.
About 200 people were killed in southern Mozambique when a passenger train crashed into a parked freight train on 25th May. The passenger train was bound for South Africa.
A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 crashed into the Taiwan Strait 25th May killing all 225 on board.

11 - New technology transit bus in Quebec

STO, the transit operator in Gatineau, Quebec, is testing a hybrid diesel-electric bus on its service. The Orion VII model was seen on Ottawa streets in early June, on an STO route that partly travels on the Ontario side. The bus model is said to generate about half the greenhouse gases of a conventional diesel bus. New York based BAE Systems developed the hybrid system as used on the new Orion model.

Meanwhile, Honda demonstrated a hybrid gas-electric automobile on Parliament Hill on 5th June, in conjunction with Clean Air Day. Federal Environment Minister David Anderson gave the car a test drive, while Transport Minister David Collenette said that Canada "will always need cars. We may walk, we may take bicycles or other means in some of our larger cities, but this is a big country and the automobile will always be with us."

12 - Quebec Hydrofoil service begins

Scheduled hydrofoil service began 1st June between Montreal and Quebec City. The Russian-built Voskhod-2 vessel operates at 65 km/h on the St Lawrence River. There is an intermediate stop at Trois-Rivieres, and a flag stop at Verchères if demand warrants. The trip each way is 4.5 hours, which is not time-competitive with rail or bus modes, but does offer an alternate travel mode.

Website: www.dauphins.ca

13 - Halifax decides between more highways or more transit

Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre is critical of plans to twin part of Nova Scotia Highway 103. It is expected that the highway expansion would encourage more urban sprawl and increase the numbers of vehicles and distances travelled. The Centre wants the $16 million cost of road widening to go to transit and car-pool measures instead.

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