Category Archives for "Latest News"

Improvements and Challenges for GTHA Public Transit

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario recently presented a summary update of GTHA public transit improvements and challenges to a Toronto-based seniors group. It presents a useful snapshot of the current status of this vital public service, including:

• Massive anticipated population increase drives need for more transit
• Over $100 Billion of rapid transit capital investment since 2010, but more needed
• Smaller projects underway to improve transit, including priority bus features, fare integration and on-request transit
• Long-awaited improvements to VIA Rail coming
• Challenges include operational funding, reliability and escalating cost of construction
• Summary of pending public advocacy areas

The update can be viewed below.

New Report on using Highway 407 for Trucking

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News

A new report has been released entitled The Freight Escape: How to Get Trucks Off the 401 Without Blowing a Hole in the Greenbelt. 

This report was commissioned by Environmental Defence with input from Transport Action Ontario and you can access this report here.

The report finds that subsidizing the toll on the 407 ETR is cheaper, easier, and better for the trucking industry than building the proposed Highway 413. It also shows that moving trucks from Highway 401 to the 407 will alleviate congestion for all road users and reduce journey times for truck drivers. This would also make building the proposed Highway 413 unnecessary, save taxpayers at least $6 billion (based on 2018 estimates), and conserve valuable natural spaces including 2000 acres of farmland and 400 acres of Greenbelt.

The Freight Escape report finds that moving trucks to the 407 will: 

• Move 12,000 to 21,000 trucks a day off Highway 401, reducing daily traffic for passenger vehicles 
• Cost $6 billion less than constructing the proposed Highway 413. Subsidizing the 407 trucking toll is estimated to cost $4 billion, which would be paid over a 30 year period. The Ontario government has not revealed a cost estimate for building Highway 413, but estimates cited in the media are as high as $10 billion 
• Reduce cost and journey time for truck drivers: using Highway 407 will improve journey times for truckers by approximately 80 minutes, which would be less than half the length of time than the equivalent trip on Highway 401 
• Conserve local natural spaces and local food production – including 2000 acres of farmland and 400 acres of Greenbelt land that would be paved by Highway 413.

Federal Study of Southwestern Ontario Passenger Rail Enhancement – second update

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

As described in our first post (September 30, 2022), a federal study on passenger rail enhancements in southwestern Ontario is underway. In November, it was announced that CPCS Transcom, in association with WSP, will act as external advisors, with a report due by end 2023.

Following months of little public activity, three important events occurred in the last week of June, 2023:

(a) Minister Alghabra held the long-promised ministerial roundtable with stakeholders. Although attendance was limited to mayors and wardens, Transport Action Ontario prepared a briefing package that was circulated to these attendees ahead of time, giving our take on benefits of rail, concern areas and what municipalities need to ask for. The package is attached below.

(b) Following the roundtable, Minister Alghabra and new VIA President Mario Peloquin announced the return of Trains 82/83 in Fall, 2023, assuming track access agreements can be negotiated with CN and Metrolinx. We have previously learned that negotiations between CN and CIA on track access in general have not been going well. Therefore we welcome the Minister’s commitment that “we will support VIA in whatever they need to make sure that it happens”.

(c) Transport Action representatives also met with CPCS on June 29. We had earlier submitted a briefing note to CPCS covering our material previously sent to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. These included rail infrastructure recommendations and developing London as a hub for high frequency rail in southwestern Ontario. The briefing package is attached below. We learned that the scope of work for CPCS is consistent with previous plans, namely:

• Focus on Burlington to London, Windsor and Sarnia (ie Kitchener line not included)
• Study increased service on existing CN infrastructure, with existing station locations
• Develop 3 service scenarios, with the best being hourly London-Toronto. This is consistent with our recommendations.

Improved passenger rail is vital to southwestern Ontario. Transport Action will continue to be very involved with both this federal study and the Ontario study.

Reinstating VIA Trains 82/83 – Demonstration in Brantford, ON

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) participated in a well-attended demonstration in Brantford on June 24, 2023 concerning reinstatement of VIA Trains 82/83, key commuter-oriented trains connecting to/from Toronto.  We spoke to several elected officials and municipal staff.

Conservative MP Larry Brock was frustrated that former VIA CEO, Martin Landry had stated there was no equipment and no crew to reinstate Train 82 after Covid. Larry considered this unacceptable and will continue to pursue the matter with the new VIA CEO, Mario Peloquin. He said that all inquiries to VIA’s customer relations department about Train 82 were usually met with “call your MP”. They did, so he saw the magnitude of the issue.

Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis was similarly frustrated as he had requested GO Transit to replace its bus with an early morning train because of congestion on Highway 403 and the Lincoln Alexander Memorial Expressway that often-made driving to Aldershot a 60-90 minute crawl. He stated it gets worse by the week because of the accelerating urban sprawl in Paris/Brantford and along the top of the Hamilton Mountain.

Both elected officials showed interest in working with TAO.  We also engaged with the Clerk of Brantford who indicated the city needed additional resources to drive the Train 82 issue. There were questions on High Frequency Rail but we advised it will be another 2 years before the project is confirmed and about 10-15 years before there are any services west of Toronto – in the event it proceeds.

There was excellent media coverage of the event.  We hope that other elected officials in southwestern Ontario  follow the example of Brantford with demonstrations, alliances and political advocacy, as this appears to be the action necessary to obtain improvements in these vital train connections.

GO Transit – Extension to Bowmanville takes next steps

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

The Ontario government has awarded a contract to Bowmanville Construction Partners (BCP), a general partnership between Ledcor CMI and Dragados Canada, to advance the planning to extend GO’s Lakeshore East rail service from Oshawa to Bowmanville (18.7 km extension). In 2022, Ontario had pledged $730M for this project. The planned service level is all-day two-way.

Due to substantial changes in the project since it was originally conceived in 2011, an amended Environmental Project Report (EPR) was required, and was unveiled at a public meeting in June, 2023. The project highlights were:

• New alignment. Immediately east of Oshawa station, the extension will turn sharply north to cross Highway 401 and the General Motors spur line, using two new bridges, to connect to the CP Belleville Sub at Thornton Corners.
• Construction of one or two new GO tracks in the CP corridor immediately south of CP’s single track. About 9 km of the GO line will be double tracked, allowing for ample opportunities for east-bound and west-bound GO trains to pass each other
• Install wayside power at Bowmanville station so two trains can be stored overnight

The project has a couple of interesting features:

(a) Four new stations (Thornton Corners, Ritson, Courtice and Bowmanville) are planned, but are not part of the extension project. The Province is pursuing station construction to be delivered through its Transit Oriented Communities program, and active discussions are underway with local developers.

(b) Based on the drawings in the EPR, there are no planned connections between the CP and GO tracks. While this has the advantage of operational simplicity (neither operator affects the other), it greatly reduces flexibility during any incident such as a stalled train. Transport Action Ontario has recommended that “jump frog switches” be installed between the CP and GO tracks.