Op-Ed for New Revenue Tools for Sustainable Transportation
By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit
By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Urban Transit
Metrolinx is in the process of updating their Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. This would replace the previous RTP, The Big Move, which was released in 2008. They have released a Discussion Paper on topics and approaches to be included in the update.
Transport Action Ontario has submitted a formal letter response to the Discussion Paper.
Our input can be viewed here: tao-mx-rtp-2016-11
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News
Representatives of the Transport Action family of NGOs met with Transport Canada in September to review several matters relating to passenger and freight rail in Canada. This included discussion on Transport Canada’s due diligence review of VIA Rail’s High Frequency Rail (HFR) proposal for the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto triangle.
We were pleased to hear that Transport Canada would welcome submissions on alternatives to the HFR plan. Accordingly, we have submitted our report on the High Performance Rail (HPR) Option prepared in March, 2016. That report can be found elsewhere on this website.
A copy of our cover letter, describing the option in summary form can be found here tao-tupper-hpr-2016-11 :
By Transport Action Ontario | Events , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News
Drawing upon examples from across the United States to illustrate the comparatively low cost and rapid implementation schedule of High Performance Rail, and the benefits of service integration between train and bus, Johnson set the stage for TAO Acting President Tony Turritin to give a more detailed description of the Network Southwest vision for restoring mobility to the region.
Irene Mathyssen, MP for London-Fanshawe, expressed her support for “Network Southwest” and making London a regional hub for Southwestern Ontario. She is working to draft a new version of the “VIA Rail Canada Act,” originally introduced by MP Phil Toone, that would empower VIA’s mandate in relationships with government and the freight railroads.
As Tony Turrittin explained, examples of High Performance Rail are close at hand. In the United States, Amtrak operates fast and very frequent trains between New-York and Albany (227km), Chicago-Milwaukee (137km), Los Angeles-San Diego (205km), and Oakland-Sacramento (144km). As VIA Rail has withdrawn service in Southwestern Ontario over the last two decades, cities such as Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph and Niagara Falls have put out a cry for help to the Province asking that GO trains be extended to their cities.
GO service is highly popular because it is mass transit: frequent, high capacity so reserved seating is not necessary, pairs of wide doors for quick boarding, reliable sechedules, and low fares — all the things that VIA Rail isn’t, Turrittin pointed out. VIA’s schedules don’t comprise a workable network, on-time performance is very poor, seating is limited, and fares extremely high. But VIA is an express service which GO is not in its present commuter rail form. He proposed melding the best of what VIA is supposed to do with GO’s mass transit model.
Turrittin closed his presentation by calling on the Province to step into the intercity rail vacuum left by VIA Rail with the GO-train mass transit model. This is an opportunity. A new delivery agency is needed with the participation of the region’s municipalities. The federal government can help by passing on its regional VIA subsidy to the new operating agency. Some track upgrades are required. There will be major economic and social benefits flowing from quality intercity express rail in Southwestern Ontario integrated with regional and local transit.
Turritin’s presentation can be viewed here: nsw-presentation-london-10122016-turrittin
Communications expert and TAO member Chris Ryan spoke at the end, encouraging everyone to get involved and write to their politicians.
The full “Network Southwest” report is available at http://www.swota.ca/network-southwest/
.
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News
By Robert Wightman, Vice President, Transport Action Ontario
There has been a lot of talk on Positive Train Control, PTC, lately, especially with the New Jersey Transit, NJT, incident in Hoboken recently. Exactly what is PTC, why did it come in to being and what will it do?
From Wikipedia Positive train control (PTC) is a system of functional requirements for monitoring and controlling train movements as an attempt to provide increased safety. The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) describes Positive Train Control as having these primary characteristics:[1]
The USA is on a major initiative to install PTC by about 2020 on Class I lines carrying hazardous material or passengers. This is a result of a collision between a Metrolink Commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train on September 12, 2008, in California, which resulted in the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 135 passengers. The operator of the commuter train was allegedly texting on his cell phone at the time and ran a red signal. The US Congress passed a 315 page bill that President Bush signed into law on October 16, 2008.
PTC would have prevented the Metro North Derailment where the commuter train entered the curve at three times the stated speed on December 1, 2013 killing 4 and injuring more than 70. It would also have prevented the Amtrak derailment near Philadelphia in May of 2015 that killed 8 and injured over 200.
There are many incidents that PTC would NOT have prevented. In the US these include:
In the Canadian context, PTC would have prevented the VIA train derailment at Burlington on February 26, 2012 when a Via train entered a 15 mph crossover at 56 mph killing the 3 crew in the locomotive and injuring 46 people. It would not have prevented the Lac Megantic disaster where an unattended train ran away backwards down a grade after being left without enough hand brakes applied nor would it have prevented the CP Derailment in the winter of 2015 near Nipigon ON that was caused by broken rail inside an insulated joint which was partially caused by extreme cold.
Positive Train Control may look like a major safety advance, and it is, but at price tag of over $2 billion Canadian it makes one wonder if it is the best bang for the buck. There are more people killed each year in level crossing collisions between trains and autos than in PTC preventable railway accidents. Would it not be more prudent to increase level crossing grade separations before PTC? Major train accidents may be more spectacular but more people are killed in level crossing accidents each year that in train accidents.
1 American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA), Lanham, MD (2009). “Meeting the Communication Challenges for Positive Train Control.” AREMA 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, IL.