Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

23 August 2002

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 668, recorded on 23 August 2002, Harry Gow reporting.

We apologize for missing issue nos. 666 and 667 due to vacation and pressure of work.

In this issue...

In this issue, rail transit and air items:

1 - Setback for opposition to new VIA vehicles

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has decided against the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) who had sought injunctions against VIA Rail to prevent any modifications to the Renaissance equipment or even putting the cars into operation. The CTA said that the CCD had not proven that VIA was doing irreparable harm. The CTA reserves the right to rule further on the cars' accessibility at another date.

The CCD had made a major flap about so-called "dangerous" and "inaccessible" cars, however these claims turn out to have been hollow!

2 - Feds may make major investment in rail

The biggest news is that Minister of Transport, David Collenette, has announced that the federal government is considering a multi-billion dollar program of investment for rail infrastructure. This would benefit freight railways, short lines, and rail border crossings. VIA would obtain indirect benefits out of this program. CN's Paul Tellier was against the idea, but railways have long claimed that heavy investment in other modes discriminates against rail.

3 - Encouraging rail media coverage

Maclean's Magazine has three upbeat articles on Canadian passenger rail in its August 26th edition. The cover shows a poster with a CPR Selkirk locomotive. Despite some errors and a pro-Benoit Bouchard stance, the articles are basically positive. Buy a copy at your newstand.

4 - Italy announces ambitious rail plan

Italy has announced a 10-year Rail Plan. Italy will invest Euros 43.2 billion to develop its railways during the next 10 years, with Euros 2.9 billion to be spent this year. The aim is to transfer 20 per cent more freight from road to rail. Italy is well behind the rest of Europe in terms of rail's market share as only 11 per cent of freight is moved by rail compared with 23 per cent in Germany.

5 - More trains on Mont-Saint-Hilaire line

Mont-Saint-Hilaire is set to get four-train service a day. After a 14-year hiatus, commuter-train service will return on Sept. 3, the chairperson of the Metropolitan Transit Agency announced recently. Four trains in the morning and four trains in the evening will ferry passengers to downtown Montreal in just 45 minutes with stops in McMasterville, Saint-Bruno and Saint-Lambert. The cost of an integrated monthly adult pass from Mont-Saint Hilaire, which gives the holder access to the train, metro and buses, is $132.

6 - Montreal Line 5 will stay open later

New extended night service on the Montreal Transit Corp. blue line is a relief to some University of Montreal students who ride the metro every day. The MTC announced last week that service on the blue line - which runs east-west - will be extended by 65 minutes at night, with the last trains leaving Snowdon and St. Michel stations at 12:15 a.m. The blue line is used heavily by students who until now had to be careful not to miss the last blue train, which stopped an hour before other metro lines.

7 - Ottawa O-Train concerns

Listed below is a letter which David Jeanes wrote recently to OC Transpo:

We are concerned that with the importance of the next eight months to the O-Train pilot project, the OC Transpo information offices are not doing enough to even keep the O-Train visible. Let alone to promote it. Harry Gow noted that the O-Train schedules are not on the City Hall racks at all. I have observed this at other information offices. I have not seen the Users Guide to Light Rail on display at any of the OC Transpo information offices recently (though copies were available on the train itself last week).

I know there is no budget for new marketing efforts for light rail, but we at least need potential users to have ready access to what has already been created. Also what is being done to promote the new 183 bus service to connect the O-Train to Gatineau? It is unfortunately missing from the new map.

8 - Security concerns slow road border crossings

According to the Financial Post, it is taking truckers an average of 20 per cent longer to drive across the border into the United States compared to a year ago because of heightened security since the Sept 11th terrorist attacks, a survey of trucking firms has found.

The survey of cross-border carriers conducted in May by KPMG found delays going both ways were higher than a year ago, despite an overall decrease in truck traffic due to a slower economy. The annual costs of border stalls were as high as $11.4 million per firm, the survey found. Hardest hit by border snags were just-in-time shippers hauling goods such as automotive parts.

9 - Some Amtrak Acela train problems fixed

On August 20th, Amtrak cleared nine of its high-speed Acela Express trains to return to service in the U.S. northeast corridor. Its premier trains were to make 30 departures from Washington, New York and Boston, compared with 50 on a normal day. Amtrak initially said none of the high-speed trains would return to service, however repair work has progressed ahead of schedule.

10 - More Amtrak Acela train problems discovered

On August 21st, Amtrak said that it had discovered more cracks in the Acela Express trains, prompting the railroad to pull back four of the trains it had restored to service on Monday. The latest cancellation left only four of Amtrak's 18 Acela Express trains in operation. Amtrak said it would operate five Acela Express trains and expects to keep that level of service for the remainder of the week.

Sidelining of the Acela Express trains led to disruption and delays on the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, Amtrak's busiest route, setting back the passenger-rail company's efforts to return to normal service after last week's disruptions. Passengers switched to slower trains or avoided trains altogether.

11 - CASO line temporary reprieve

The Canada Southern Railway, a historic rail line that runs through the counties of Haldimand and Norfolk in southwest Ontario, has been given a temporary reprieve from the wrecker's ball. Canadian National Railway had hoped to have completed tearing up the line between Attercliffe, near Dunnville, and St. Thomas by this month. But it had to shelve its plan after intervention by federal Transport Minister David Collenette.

Municipal and CN officials along the line say Collenette has asked the railway to hold off tearing up the shortest rail route across southern Ontario until seven municipalities have investigated a scheme to buy it. CN, which co-owns the Canada Southern with CPR, announced in March it was going to rip up the line in late spring. The municipalities have until the end of September to come up with a business plan to save the Attercliffe-St. Thomas portion of the line, which hasn't seen a train since April 1st, 1996.

12 - Ontario announces more transportation construction

Ontario Minister of Transport, Norm Sterling, announced the Ontario government's next steps to expand the improve services in several Ontario municipalities. Sterling was on hand at the Eagleson Park and Ride Lot to announce a number of immediate transit improvement projects. The Ontario government will fund, through SuperBuild, up to one-third of the eligible projects through Transit Investment Partnerships (TIP) which is a 10-year $9 billion transit investment plan.

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