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

Stouffville Corridor GO Rail Service Expansion

By Transport Action Ontario | Urban Transit

GO Transit has completed the Environmental Study Report for this project in July, which involves studying the infrastructure needed to twin the tracks from Scarborough Junction to Unionville GO station to allow all-day two-way service.

Transport Action Ontario has been following this two-year study closely.  We commented in January, expressing concerns about the narrow scope of the study, which should have also  included components related to Regional Rapid Rail, such as electrification and infill stations.

Our most recent comments reiterated these earlier concerns.  We noted that this corridor is part of the Province’s Regional Express Rail plan and a key component of Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory’s Smart Track plan.  All signs therefore point to this line being a high priority candidate for electrification and frequent service.  We urged prompt amendment of the Environmental Study to incorporate these points.

We also made  comments on the need for  bridge clearances to be compatible with electrification, and the need to consider infrastructure so that train whistle cessation can be achieved.

The full submission to GO can be viewed here:    TAO-GOStouffvilleEA-2014-09

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

“Surface Subway” Only Part of Solution – Toronto also needs Downtown Relief Line

By Transport Action Ontario | Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario’s  2013 report “Regional Rapid Rail”, analyzing the benefits and costs of an intelligently electrified GO Rail system to develop a “surface subway” for the GTHA, has received strong endorsement from transit professionals and elected officials.    In 2014, the Ontario Liberals announced their “Regional Express Rail” commitment, and John Tory, a leading candidate for Toronto Mayor, announced his “SmartTrack” platform.  Both are very analogous to our Regional Rapid Rail concept.

Some stakeholders have proposed that this surface subway could replace Toronto’s proposed Downtown Relief Line (DRL) subway.  As discussed in an Opinion column published in the Toronto Star on July 23, 2014,  Transport Action Ontario believes that both the electrified GO service and the DRL are needed, and quickly.

The opinion piece can be viewed here