A plan to add a third rail line to the Toronto-Montreal corridor will cut 30 minutes from the five-hour trip.

The joint Via Rail and CN announcement – part of a $300 million investment in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa region – means building a third line along existing track in four of the corridor’s busiest sections from Oshawa to Brockville. Construction begins this summer and is to be completed by 2011.

The third line will let Via and CN trains pass each other in congested areas where three trains often converge, eliminating the need for Via passenger trains to idle on sidings while CN freight trains pass. New high-speed turnouts will also be installed so trains don’t have to come to a near-stop to avoid derailing when they’re switching tracks.

Three-quarters of Via’s 4.5 million passengers use the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle. The rail carrier expects the track improvements to result in a 40 per cent passenger increase over five years.

“We want to transform passenger rail travel,” said Gary Goodyear, federal minister of state for science and technology. “We expect that more people will choose to leave their cars at home and use the train for intercity travel. We will get people off the highways and relieve traffic congestion.”

Source: By Patsy Winsa, TheStar.com