Category Archives for "Southwestern Ontario"

Building Canada requires a national rail strategy

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario

Transport Action strongly believes that a good freight and passenger rail network is a major component of a strong and independent Canada. However, with 5 decades of observation and advocacy, we have regretfully seen the opposite – a continuous diminution of Canada’s rail system.

Transport Action Canada and Transport Action Ontario have written Prime Minister Carney summarizing the reasons for this decline, including largely foreign ownership of our rail assets and continued populist actions by government to subsidize personal vehicle use.

Our letter recommended establishing a national strategic rail authority to:

• Identify the necessary rail network, including multi-modal inlands distribution centres
• Work with the industry to jointly develop shared investments that boost both freight and passenger rail service
• Support provincial rail investments
• Decline federal funding for urban highway expansions
• Maximize Canadian industrial benefits
• Maintain transparency on the Alto HSR project and on its impact on VIA Rail
• Encourage First Nation participation

Our letter is attached.

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.

Connected Intercity Bus Network still Needed

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario

At the public portion of the Transport Action Ontario Annual General Meeting, May 25, 2024, John Stepovy, Director of Partnerships, Busbud.com, summarized the status of the intercity bus network in Canada. 

Busbud is a Canadian company that provides bus and rail trip searching, planning, scheduling, booking and payment services for clients in 80 countries.  Key partners in Canada include VIA Rail, Union Pearson Express, Flixbus, Rider Express, Ontario Northland, Ebus, Maritime Bus and many more.

There continue to be issues in establishing a coordinated bus network in Canada:

• Different carriers have different concession definitions and different baggage policies.
• Different carriers often use different terminals in the same part of a city, meaning connections are challenging, especially with baggage.  For example, most bus carriers use the Union Station Bus Terminal in Toronto, while others use a drop point on York St. or on Queen’s Quay Blvd.
• Lack of federal interest in developing a cross-Canada connected network. The federal government could fill a real gap by funding a central platform that houses all carriers’ schedules, maps, route information and fares.  While parliamentarians are supportive of this, Transport Canada has largely deflected this need to the Provinces.
• Lack of federal interest in supporting private carriers to fill out the rural bus network.  For example, private carriers are not eligible for the Rural Transit Solutions Fund.

Transport Action will continue to work with Busbud and with bus carriers to advocate for improvements to the cross-Canada bus network.

Advocacy Summary April, 2023 – May, 2024

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

Transport Action Ontario’s annual general meeting (AGM) was held in Toronto on May 25, 2024 in a hybrid format. The meeting followed a pro-forma agenda, including Treasurer’s report and election of officers and directors for the upcoming year.

The major part of the meeting was devoted to the President’s Report, which summarized the extensive advocacy work undertaken by the organization all across the Province over the past 12 months. In total, work was conducted on about 30 items, with some successes and good progress on others.

For members and subscribers who were unable to attend the AGM, the President’s Report is attached as a FYI.

Delegation on Passenger Rail to Oxford County Council

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Southwestern Ontario

Transport Action Ontario secretary, Ken Westcar, delegated to Oxford County’s council meeting on April 24, 2024 in support of elements of their 2023 Transportation Master Plan that included VIA Rail service improvements through Woodstock and Ingersoll.

Ken’s peer-reviewed PowerPoint presentation on behalf of Transport Action Ontario (TAO) was submitted in advance of the delegation and it was clear from the interest and responses that county councillors and the warden had studied it thoroughly in advance of the meeting.

VIA Train 76 stop reinstatement.

The presentation emphasised the need for a letter from Oxford County Council to Mario Péloquin, VIA Rail CEO, requesting a Woodstock stop for London to Toronto VIA Train 76 to partially fill a nearly nine-hour afternoon service gap from both Woodstock and Ingersoll. There was consensus that this gap severely disincentivizes VIA usage by Oxford County residents and visitors and acted as a brake on economic and community progress and wellness due to the increasingly congested and unreliable Highways 401/403 being the default mobility option.

Given that Train 76 could be one element of the proposed Toronto-Chicago Amtrak/VIA international service, it was agreed that Woodstock must be a stop to provide passenger rail access to and from the U.S. Mid West and beyond given that it is part of the industrial heartland of the U.S.A. and Canada where investment and talent are often shared.

Additional services and provincial cost-sharing.

Beyond the Train 76 stopping issue, discussion also extended to an aspirational “Train 74” service starting in either Windsor, Sarnia or Stratford, with early afternoon stops in Woodstock and Ingersoll, that would make VIA a very competitive option for travellers to/from Oxford County. Because of delegation time constraints, westbound services were not discussed.

The delegation dialog included the possibility of provincial financial support for these additional VIA services in southwestern Ontario (SWO) like state-supported Amtrak services in the USA. TAO’s position on this is that municipalities should engage with the province based on the very advantageous cost/benefit ratio available from incremental intensification of VIA services to the region. Given the provincial withdrawal of trial GO train services between London/Kitchener/Toronto, the concept has validity as the initial $160million originally committed by the province for this service and the ongoing provincial investment in maintenance and operations would likely meet or exceed the cost of the aspirational VIA Train 74 service.

Improved Woodstock VIA station aesthetics.

Further discussion took place on Woodstock VIA station aesthetics and its potential as a more attractive portal for Oxford County to reinforce its messaging on attractiveness to inward investment, quality of life and sustainability. Concern was expressed about the faded boxcar murals on the north side of the railway tracks and the freight traffic blocking effects when VIA trains are stopped on the primary east and westbound CN tracks. Solutions to these problems are possible and require further multi-party discussion.

Recommended actions.

While requesting a Woodstock stop for Train 76 is primarily an Oxford County task, TAO strongly recommended joint action by all VIA Rail-served communities (mayors, wardens and other stakeholders) to discuss with both the federal and provincial governments on affordable and readily achievable VIA schedule improvements. The primary drivers are regional population and industrial growth, rapidly changing demographics and over-reliance on capacity-constrained Highways 401/403.

A key element of this joint approach would be a southwestern Ontario (SWO) rail summit meeting staged in conjunction with the release of the ongoing federal and provincial studies to ensure that subsequent policies and investments are truly reflective of actual needs. TAO requested Oxford County’s support in arranging this after dialog with their peers in other affected municipalities. TAO would be a facilitator.

Conclusion.

Given the discussion intensity and positivity during the delegation, it is clear that the need for improved SWO passenger rail services is well recognised and of growing urgency to properly support the region’s economic and social prosperity and the constant drive for sustainability.

Photograph: Woodstock VIA Rail station in summer 2023, with scaffolding in place for brickwork cleaning.