By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario
Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis has issued a powerful media statement on the Northern Reality on Passenger Rail Investment. It cogently summarizes the history of the Northlander Passenger Rail service and the need for more passenger rail investment in Northern Ontario.
The media release is available at this link: NEORN-CochraneRelease
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario
Our affiliate organization, the Northern and Eastern Ontario Rail Network (NEORN) has issued a media release requesting the Ontario government to revise the mandate for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to include pursuit of passenger rail service for Northern Ontario. This would mirror other political parties which have included passenger rail for Northern Ontario in their announced platforms.
The NEORN release can be viewed here: NEORN-2018-01-29
By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Urban Transit
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is developing a long-range (2051) multimodal transportation plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Objectives include reducing congestion, supporting economic growth, promoting healthy lifestyles, responding to the climate change challenge and leveraging new technology. The province is seeking public input on a draft set of long-term goals which will inform the plan.
Transport Action Ontario, along with 5 other non-government organizations, has formally responded to the Province’s request for comments. Our letter can be viewed here: GGH Draft Transportation Plan Comments – December 22, 2017
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario
Transport Action Ontario and our affiliate, the Northern and Eastern Ontario Rail Network (NEORN) have jointly issued a media release decrying the extremely poor on-time performance of the Canadian. Data shows that the Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto was on schedule only once between March 2 and June 22, 2017. The blame is placed on CN, which is disregarding its contractual agreement to efficiently handle all VIA passenger trains on its lines.
The groups are calling on Transport Minister Marc Garneau to resolve the situation.
The media release can be viewed here: TAO-NEORN 2017-08-03
By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News
Will the Government of Ontario’s wildly optimistic predictions about the benefits of high-speed rail (HSR) actually materialize? The odds are they will not – and here is why. [Click title above to continue reading analysis of Ontario’s HSR proposal]
“High-speed rail’s problems stem mainly from implausibly rosy economic predictions followed by deeply disappointing financial results.”¹
HSR is too often a vanity project on which politicians fixate, believing their ridings must have the service to be part of the 21st century. In this, HSR has often been similar to other politically-motivated mega-projects, such as Toronto’s controversial Union Pearson Express.
According to the Economist, California’s HSR project was to:
“…cost no more than $33 billion, with the federal government stumping up $3.2 billion and private investors chipping in the balance. So far, such private investors have been conspicuous by their absence…. Meanwhile, the overall cost of the project had soared to $98 billion. And instead of going into service by the end of the decade, the high-speed railway would not be ready until 2033.”²
Even in countries where HSR is applicable and has proved successful, there have been problems.
“Others estimate that Japan’s equally illustrious HSR system has added more than 10 percent to the national debt, while cost overruns in Korea have surged into the 300 percent range.”¹
Is this what we want to happen in Ontario in order to satisfy the cravings of politicians seeking re-election? What of the legitimate transportation needs of the voters who pay for these projects?
The major problems with Ontario’s HSR plan include:
Has the province done any real surveys and studies of the benefits and costs of the proposed system? In most other jurisdictions where HSR has been built, the costs escalated drastically, while the benefits did not meet the optimistic predictions.
The much quicker, equally effective and more affordable solution to Southwestern Ontario’s growing transportation problem is high-performance rail (HPR), which is in daily operation on comparable rail corridors around the world, including the U.S.
HPR includes major improvements to the existing infrastructure, new trains and revisions to the fare structure to provide a fast, frequent and affordable service that can be running in less than half the time of HSR and at much lower cost. It is implemented incrementally, providing improvements the public can use every step of the way before it reaches its final build-out.
HPR’s multiple benefits are outlined in Transport Action Ontario’s This is High-Performance Rail
This is the course of urgent action Transport Action Ontario advocates. Pursuing HSR after several failed attempts stretching back nearly 40 years will only lead to further deterioration of our public transportation system, the competitiveness of our economy and our quality of life. We cannot afford to waste more time and money on another “gee-whiz” scheme that is, at best, a pre-election vote chaser.
Robert Wightman
President
Transport Action Ontario
July 19, 2017
1 http://www.aei.org/publication/the-real-problem-with-high-speed-rail/
2 https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21695237-taxpayers-could-pay-dearly-californias- high-speed-dreams-biting-bullet
A related press release is to be found in the Publications/Press Releases section of this website.
To download this document click here.