Category Archives for "Intercity Rail and Bus"

Improving Rail Mobility and Transportation between Ontario and Quebec – Joint Letter

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus

A joint letter from Transport Action Ontario and Transport 2000 Quebec, our sister organization, was sent to the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec on November 12, 2014.  It noted the new spirit of cooperation between Ontario and Quebec,  discussed the benefits of rail between our two provinces, and urged both provinces to initiate cooperative work to improve inter-city and inter-provincial railways in the Windsor-Quebec corridor, in conjunction with the federal government.

The letter can be viewed here:  TAO-T2Q Joint Letter

Media Release: VIA Rail is dying, but can be revived

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Press Releases and Open Letters

Transport Action Ontario is pleased to release a major new report by our colleague, Greg Gormick, entitled “Out of Steam: The Urgent Need to Modernize VIA Rail Canada”.

The report analyzes recent quarterly, annual and plan reports of VIA Rail Canada.  It concludes that, in every key performance indicator, VIA is either stagnant or declining.  But it also concludes that VIA can be easily revived and improved to deliver major benefits to Canadians if government invests strategically in its full, long-overdue modernization.

The media release can be viewed here:   TAO-Out of Steam Media Release2014-10-09

New Report: “Out of Steam: The Urgent Need to Modernize VIA Rail Canada”

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Major Reports

Transport Action Ontario is pleased to release a major new report by our colleague, Greg Gormick, entitled “Out of Steam: The Urgent Need to Modernize VIA Rail Canada”.

The report analyzes recent quarterly, annual and plan reports of VIA Rail Canada.  It concludes that, in every key performance indicator, VIA is either stagnant or declining.  But it also concludes that VIA can be easily revived and improved to deliver major benefits to Canadians if government invests strategically in its full, long-overdue modernization.

The report can be viewed here:   TAO-OutofSteam2014-10-09

Lac Megantic TSB report skims surface of deep problems in Canadian railroading

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus

Transport Action Ontario colleague, Greg Gormick,  authored an Op-Ed in the Toronto Star on August 21, 2014, entitled “Lac Megantic report skims surface of deep problems”.  This was a followup article to his earlier publication, also in the Toronto Star, on May 18, 2014.  As in the earlier article, it indicates that decades of public policy and investment  failures is where the blame must be placed.  It points out that Canada’s major international competitors, including the USA, take a different approach and use public-private partnerships to invest in the freight railway network.

The article can be viewed here

Interview on Canada AM regarding lessons from Lac Megantic

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus

On July 7, Transport Action Ontario’s Peter Miasek was interviewed on Canada AM, CTV’s flagship morning news show.  The interview concerned the lessons from the  Lac Megantic disaster – what has the government changed to date, and what more needs to be done.

Miasek pointed out that Canada’s rail industry has numerous problems – safety, capacity, secondary line abandonment, and the decline of passenger rail.  These are all symptoms of a problem of lack of capital.   He recommended taking a page from the USA experience, where public-private partnerships between the federal government, state governments and the private railroad industry has lead to a revitalization of this important sector of our economy.

The full  interview can be viewed here.   Caution: the audio volume is a little too low, but can be comprehended without difficulty.   Our thanks to CTV News for this broadcast.

CTV – Canada AM 2014-07-07