Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

21 July 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 663, recorded on 21 July 2002, Harry Gow reporting.

In this issue...

In this issue; rail, transit and air items.

1 - Congress approves Amtrak funding - for now

First, very good news from the U.S.A. Congress approves Amtrak funding. In an agreement reached last week, the U.S. Congress has voted to provide Amtrak with $205 million in supplemental funding to take it through to the end of the fiscal year. The deal is now headed to the White House for President Bush's approval. Sources claim the plan should be acceptable to the White House. The $205 million for Amtrak is part of a larger $28.9 billion supplemental spending package approved by the House and Senate Thursday afternoon. Other provisions in the overall package include $15 billion for the Defence Department, $6.7 billion for homeland defence, and $5.5 billion in assistance for New York (related to the Sept. 11th attack).

In addition, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd has set a tentative date of July 23 to begin consideration of the 2003 transportation spending bill. Rail labour is pushing to make sure Amtrak is at the top of the agenda. While there is broad support in the Senate for giving Amtrak their requested level of $1.2 billion, the Bush administration has requested only $521 million for Amtrak.

2 - More support to restore VIA western service

According to Transport 2000's Prairie Region's President, George Wooldridge, Dick Proctor, M.P. for Palliser (Moose Jaw - Regina West) "has been very supportive" of our campaign to get VIA Rail back on the CPR He recently had a meeting with VIA Rail officials who seem to have indicated that restoration is realistic and achievable and the Public Works Minister Ralph Goodale has (regularly) requested VIA Rail to restore service.

3 - New Montreal suburban commuter station

According to the Montreal Gazette, construction on a new railway station in Vaudreuil - Dorion may begin before school resumes, officials of the Metropolitain Transit Agency said recently. Details about the passenger station and a new commuter-train yard and garage are to be made public next month, said Manon Goudreault, spokesperson for the agency, which oversees public transit in greater Montreal. Construction may start as early as August, she said. Once the station is built, emphasis will be placed on creating a public transit network - a bus system, for instance that would bring commuters from outlying communities like Les Cedres to the station. The new station will be on the south side of Highway 40 while the train yard will be on the north side. The station will serve new subdivisions planned for Vaudreuil and will surely attract new train commuters.

4 - Feds seek Trans-Canada superhighway

According to the National Post, members of Jean Chretien's cabinet are urging him to expand the Trans-Canada Highway to 4 lanes across the country as his political legacy. The plan, if approved by cabinet, would be sold to Canadians as a job-creation measure and a means to enhance the country's productivity. The Prime Minister is open to the idea of a superhighway and expects it would also help to promote national unity, said Herb Dhaliwal, the Natural Resources Minister, who said he has been pushing the proposal in cabinet along with David Collenette, the Minister of Transport.

"It would be a great project to have a double-lane highway from one end of the country to another," stated Mr. Dhaliwal in an interview last week. He said the cost of expanding the highway to four lanes is estimated at between $10 billion and $15 billion. Harry Gow, of Transport 2000 Canada, criticized the proposal as too expensive. He said Ottawa should develop a plan that directs money to selective road improvements and other transport priorities such as port security and cross border links. "This would be an enormous expense. Four lanes across Newfoundland, for example, strikes me as a little bit of overkill," he said. Mr. Gow said the government should develop a transport model on the U.S. Transportation Efficiency Act where investments are made in various corridors after study and depending on specific needs.

A federal report last year recommended drivers should help defray the costs of road and public transit improvement. The report stated that the provinces should hit drivers with new or increased charges, such as highway tolls and licence fees and that a dedicated fuel tax be imposed to spend on improvements to roads. Mr. Collenette is known to favour a transport-fund but the idea was vehemently opposed by Paul Martin when he was finance minister. A 2% per litre surcharge at the gas pumps would generate about $1 billion annually for the proposed fund, which is still under discussion by the government.

5 - Ontario supports Western farmers by rail

Farmers in the Navan, Cumberland and Sarsfield area are planning to send hay to drought-stricken Alberta and Saskatchewan. Six farmers have joined the project and contacted CN Rail about shipping the animal feed west. The farmers have collected enough hay worth about $8000 to fill five or six boxcars. It appears that the hay will be sent from Brockville, as no one seems to have thought to contact the OCR in Ottawa!

6 - CP/Borealis looks at international truck-rail tunnels

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Borealis Transportation Infrastructure Trust said they are mulling options to improve cross-border traffic flow at Windsor, Ont. The companies" Detroit River Tunnel Partnership will examine the possibility of converting its existing rail corridor and two rail tubes under the Detroit River into a new truck route. The partnerhsip will also look at developing a new rail tunnel in the same corridor. The project could be completed within five years. Currently, about 25 per cent of all Canada-U.S. trade passes through Windsor. Borealis, which is owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board, acquired a 50 per cent stake in the Detroit River Tunnel last year from Canadian National Railway Co.

7 - Northwest Airlines losses; Southwest profits sink

According to the Montreal Gazette, Northwest Airlines lost $93 million in its second quarter, the carrier said recently. Delta Air Lines Inc., the third-largest U.S. airline, said its loss widened to $186 million. Profits at Southwest Airlines Co., the U.S.'s largest discount carrier, fell 42 per cent from a year earlier to $102.3 million. Traffic at the 10 largest U.S. airlines fell 9.6 per cent in the quarter as average air fares hit 15-year lows.

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