Category Archives for "Intercity Rail and Bus"

Response to Ontario Minister of Transport Letter to Federal Government

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario , Urban Transit

On June 2, 2025, Ontario Minister of Transport Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria wrote to federal Minister of Transport and International Trade Chrystia Freeland outlining several areas where federal financial and regulatory assistance is needed to modernize Ontario’s transportation infrastructure. Specific items were identified for subways, highways, rail, marine, airports, electric vehicles and critical minerals.

While Transport Action Ontario supports a number of these items, we felt we needed to comment in several areas:

• The real costs of provincial highways is high
• Need more provincial focus on southwestern Ontario
• Need to improve existing rail asset utilization
• Rail abandonments need more scrutiny
• Regional equity and rail tourism need more focus
• Descoping and delays of GO Expansion project have serious consequences
• Highway 401 tunnel in GTHA is a bad idea
• Infrastructure for critical minerals should include freight rail

Our letter can be viewed below.

Chatham station repairs underway

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus

Transport Action Ontario is pleased to see the work has begun to repair salt and frost damage to the exterior masonry of Chatham’s heritage station. We have been bringing the condition of the station exterior to VIA Rail’s attention since 2019, noting that with each passing winter the damage was accelerating and increasing the eventual repair cost.

The work is part of a program of repairs throughout the region using funding announced in 2022, including major work completed at London station and masonry repairs to Woodstock station completed in 2024, together with renovations at Brantford. VIA Rail has also recently undertaken interior renovations to the Woodstock and Chatham stations, including improved accessible washrooms.

As can be seen from the photograph above, a long period of maintenance deferral, following the de-staffing of many VIA Rail stations in 2012 due to federal budget cuts, now requires expensive capital investments to remedy. It its 2024 Annual Report, VIA Rail Canada noted that the unfunded maintenance deficit for its real estate, including stations and depots, stands at $450M.

Transport Action urges all transit operators, and the levels of government funding them, to properly account for asset lifecycle costs and ongoing maintenance funding, because failing to do so in the name of short term “savings” always costs more in the long run.

Letter to Federal Minister Freeland regarding Passenger Rail

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

The new Carney government is emphasizing nation building projects, including building high speed rail connecting communities between Windsor and Quebec City, and building new trade corridors including railways. Carney also called for these projects to be built at a rapid pace.

We have written Minister of Transport and International Trade Chrystia Freeland discussing improvements to Canada’s passenger rail system. We believe that VIA Rail and other passenger rail operations must succeed in the short term if Alto (high speed rail) is to succeed in the short term. We highlighted six challenges that Transport Canada must help resolve.

• Resolve VIA-CB dispute about speed at level crossings
• Resolve VIA-CN dispute about train service agreement and passenger rail priority
• Develop standards for higher speed and electrification
• Develop enhanced train control regulations
• Make additional investments beyond Toronto – Quebec City
• Direct federal funds to public transportation, not urban highways

Our letter can be viewed below.

Canada’s Long Slow Journey to High Speed Rail

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

A panel on High Speed Rail in Canada took place at Canadian Institute Urban Transit Urban Transit Infrastructure symposium in Toronto on May 29, 2025 with Terence Johnson from Transport Action joining Olivier Marcil from Alstom, Pierre Barrieau from the University of Montreal, and Paul Langan from High Speed Rail Canada to address the challenges that the Alto project and previous attempts at developing high speed and high performance rail in Canada have faced.

In advance of the symposium, Terence Johnson spoke with Paul Langan from High Speed Rail Canada at a webinar organized by the Canadian Institute on May 5, 2025, about the prospects for Alto and other high speed rail projects in Canada. Terry summarized the history of high speed rail in Canada, the current Alto proposal and recommendations for future success.

The webinar recording is now available to watch:

Resources | Urban Transit Infrastructure Symposium, Eastern Canada

Photo: Denise Korol/Canadian Institute

Annual Meetings – April 5, 2025

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) and Transport Action Canada (TAC) invite all members and supporters to join us for our annual public meeting on April 5, 2025, to be followed by the Annual General Meetings of both organizations. The meetings will be in hybrid format – in person in Kingston, Ontario and virtual using ZOOM, and will start at 1:00 pm.

The public meeting will feature key notes speakers Carl Fowler on cross-border passenger rail, Shawn Marshall on mapping Canada’s motorcoach network and a discussion of Kingston as a future regional hub for VIA Rail/Alto.

For further details and registration information for the public meeting, click here.

The public meeting will be followed by the Annual General Meetings for both organizations – between 3:00 pm and 3:45 pm for TAC and between 3:45 – 4:30 pm for TAO. Members in good standing have received separate invites for these sessions.