Addressing VIA Canada’s role in passenger rail transportation

In response to a letter from Transport Minister Alghabra, Transport Action Ontario has written back to the Minister outlining our thoughts and needed work on eight topics, summarized below;

• Expedited restoration of VIA Rail corridor services needed
• Transparency on VIA’s High Frequency Rail (HFR) project very inadequate
• Details needed on HFR capital investment ($396 million over 5 years)
• Need to develop options to HFR northern corridor (Toronto-Peterborough-Smith Falls)
• Need to invest in southwestern Ontario rail debottlenecks
• Shared maintenance facilities with Exo or Metrolinx
• Welcome first step on VIA’s long-distance fleet replacement
• Cross-border rail services

Our letter can be viewed below.

Photograph: VIA 912 by djaytoo (d*jay)