Oct 09

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 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. 

 

 

 

Sep 08

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

 

 

 

Aug 22

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

 

 

Jul 23

“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

 

 

 

Jul 07

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

 

 

 

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