Support for Detroit-Windsor Passenger Rail Link

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

Transport Action Canada and Transport Action Ontario have jointly issued a letter of support to the Federal government for a proposed Amtrak – VIA Rail passenger rail connection between Detroit and Windsor. The proposal involves station and signal upgrades in Detroit, use of the CPKC tunnel under the Detroit River, upgraded track on the Essex Terminal Railway (ETR), a new connection between ETR and VIA tracks and upgrades at Windsor Station, including a joint CBSA/CBP border clearing facility.

We are hopeful that the upcoming federal budget will include funding for the Windsor portion of the project, estimated to cost about $40 million.

Our letter can be viewed below.

Stop the 413 – Briefing to MPs

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News

Transport Action Ontario is a core member of the “Stop the 413 Now” alliance of community groups and individuals based in York Region. In August, 2024, we completed an updated “Briefing to MPs” that has been circulated and discussed with numerous federal elected officials.

We are asking the Federal Government to:

• Protect the environment using tools in its jurisdiction, including redesignation under the recently revised Impact Assessment Act, and carefully scrutinizing permits under the Species at Risk Act, Fisheries Act and Migratory Birds Act.
• Support better use of Highway 407 for trucks as an investment in supply chain competitiveness and to support smart growth principles.

The briefing can be viewed below.

GTHA Transit Summit, Sept. 4, 2024

By Transport Action Ontario | Events , Urban Transit

Don’t forget to register for an exciting and informative GTHA Transit Summit, presented by our colleagues at Transport Futures. There is a huge amount of transit expansion underway in the GTHA, but many challenges remain, both on the operating and capital construction sides. A variety of interesting speakers will address these issues, including Phil Verster of Metrolinx and Josh Colle of the Toronto Transit Commission.

Access the summit website here for a full schedule and list of speakers.

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) is a sponsor of this event, and TAO members in good standing will receive a 10% discount off the registration fee. Use promo code TAOTC5.

Early-bird registration rates last until August 8, so register soon.

The GTHA Transit Summit is being held on September 4, 2024 at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Business Commons Conference Hall. The venue is located on the 7^th floor of 55 Dundas Street West – east of Bay Street on the south side of Dundas.

Reducing Risk in Transit Projects

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

There is a massive amount of transit investment underway in Canada.  Greater Toronto alone has about $80B of projects underway; while Ottawa has three LRT projects ongoing and another one on the drawing board.  However, as described in our post of January 12, 2024 “Capital Cost Escalation of Canadian Transit Projects”, costs are skyrocketing and solutions need to be found.

There is also concern that, despite generous contract prices, many Canadian projects are still going over budget/over time.  This is despite many of them using P3 contracts (public-private-partnership), allegedly created to reduce likelihood of over budget/over time.  Fiasco projects like Eglinton Crosstown LRT and Ottawa Confederation Line inspire little confidence.

Industry leaders are starting to react to this over budget/over time problem.  A group of leading Canadian transit industry leaders has formed a group called “Future of Infrastructure Group” (FIG) and produced a report called “Reducing Risk in Transit Projects”.  Ontario and federal contributors to the report included City of Toronto, TTC, University of Toronto, Infrastructure Ontario, Metrolinx, Infrastructure Canada, Transport Canada, Canada Infrastructure Bank and of course dozens of Ontario-based private companies.

The report focusses on allocating and mitigating risk in projects, which should lead to reduced costs, better timelines, less disputes/claims and better quality of contractors.  The report discusses different contracting models that appear to show promise, including:

• Eglinton Crosstown West – smart incentive mechanisms and took a diligent approach to proactively addressing risk
• Union Station Enhancement Project – a very complex project.  Uses an alliance contracting model that has lead to zero litigation to date

The report can be viewed here. 

Photo: Construction work continues at South Keys, two years after the expected reopening date of the Trillium Line.

Challenges with State of Good Repair at TTC – Rick Leary reports

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

In what was likely his last interview before his surprise resignation 2 days later, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) CEO Rick Leary was interviewed on June 18 at TRACCS  (Transit Rail Association for Canadian Contractors, Maintainers, Operators and Standards)  Rail Day 2024.  He focused mostly on State of Good Repair (SOGR) and gave a very sobering summary of SOGR at the TTC.

The TTC 15-year capital plan now stands at about $38B, only one-third of which is funded.  This leads to continual deferral of necessary SOGR items.  Leary noted that the derailment of the Scarborough RT in 2023 was due to the rolling stock being 13-years beyond lifetime, and noted that “airlines don’t brag about having the oldest fleet in the country”.

Top priority SOGR items include:

• Money from the federal government to match provincial and municipal funds for new subway cars on Line 2.  The federal permanent Public Transit Fund starts in 2026 and TTC is hoping to get preauthorization this summer for the federal funds, so that procurement can start
• Maintenance/upgrades of track, power, tunnels and signals on Line 2
• Streetcar maintenance
• Bus fleet maintenance/electrification

Leary indicated that various academic studies have shown that every dollar invested into transit yields seven dollars in economic uplift, not including health benefits and opportunity for affordable housing.