Senior government officials say that rail commuters can expect some quicker trips in Central Canada and renovated stations across the country because of a multimillion-dollar injection of new cash for VIA Rail outlined in the last federal budget.

But nearly a month after the Harper government announced the $407 million in new funding, the crown corporation in charge of passenger rail service in Canada has not been able to announce a comprehensive outline of how the money will be spent.

“I don’t have the plan right now to show to people,” said VIA Rail spokesperson Nadia Seraiocco in an interview. “In the next few weeks, our president will talk to us, probably about . . . highlights of the plan so that journalists can have a better idea, and the general population, of what’s going on in terms of the investment.”

Source Link: Canada.com

Source Link: Windsor Star

Tuesday’s federal budget acknowledged the importance of pumping money into Via Rail to make passenger service more comfortable and reliable in Ontario and Quebec.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised an additional $407 million in cash to upgrade infrastructure and make the necessary capital improvements.

But he fell woefully short of making the long-term investment in high-speed rail that would put Windsor in the loop, and that’s unfortunate. It has long been accepted that the only logical way to improve rail travel is to create a seamless high-speed route in the corridor from Essex County to Quebec City. Instead, he chose to focus on creating a “triple-track” system between Montreal and Toronto.

Flaherty boasted it would provide for two additional express trains between those two cities and reduce the trip times, “thereby making it possible to travel between these major metropolitan centres in approximately four hours.

“Trip times between Ottawa and Toronto,” he said, “will also be reduced by up to 30 minutes.”

That’s all well and good for those “metropolitan” travellers, but it won’t help those people living in the rest of southwestern Ontario. Nowhere is that oversight more obvious than in Windsor, which sees throngs of travellers from Michigan and Ohio flock to its antiquated station each year.

Those people are eager to explore the sights and sounds along the rail route, often stopping in Stratford and London on their way to Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City. They bring with them plenty of cash and a willingness to spend it.

Ironically, Flaherty acknowledged Windsor as one of Via’s “key” stations, right up there with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. That tells us someone in the non-partisan rail caucus knows full well how important this area is to creating a quick and efficient rail corridor. There’s no question it should have been included in the project to link together major centres.

And while he did say there would be funds to “modernize” our station, Flaherty did not specify what we could expect. We trust it will be a traveller friendly new one to replace what’s become a tired old eyesore.

Along with this, the government must rethink its infrastructure plan so that it includes high-speed rail — which has been endorsed by the Ontario and Quebec governments. Any modernization project should include upgrading the rail line now, not later.

Source Link: The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Transportation experts don’t believe the federal government’s small budgetary nod to public transit will help Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) offset a forecast slide in its aerospace business.

Transit will compete with roads and other priorities for the $4 billion earmarked for infrastructure upgrades and only a portion of the spending is expected to be directed at the purchase of train cars.

Another $407 million provided to Via Rail will upgrade tracks and several train stations.

Neither allocation will help the Montreal-based company weather the global economic storm, analysts said Friday.

With 75 per cent of its rail revenues coming from Europe and its headquarters based in Berlin, Bombardier Transportation is looking to harness stimulative efforts in Europe and emerging countries outside North America.

“Canada is almost inconsequential for them,” said Cameron Doerksen of Versant Partners.

Doerksen said there wasn’t any expectation in the investment community that Bombardier would see significant benefits from the Canadian budget.

With a backlog at the end of the last quarter totalling $25.8 billion or 2.5 years, it’s unlikely that stimulative spending would have a major impact on the company anyway, he said in a report.

It would take several years for any contracts awarded today to begin to generate revenue for the company.

While new train orders are positive, the contribution from the business jet market is much more important to Bombardier’s overall profitability.

Business aircraft account for 27 per cent of total revenues compared to 50 per cent from transportation, but are believed to make up 44 per cent of operating earnings compared to only 35 per cent for transportation, Doerksen said.

Source Link: globeandmail.com

As the federal government hammers out a forthcoming economic-stimulus package, it should think seriously about helping passenger railways across Canada to follow the example of southern Ontario’s GO Transit by buying up train tracks from CN and Canadian Pacific. This week, GO announced plans to acquire a good chunk of the Toronto area’s network.

The freight operators’ ownership of the vast majority of the country’s tracks is a severe headache for commuter authorities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, as well as VIA Rail, and the greatest obstacle to public investment in Canada’s rail system.

Mere tenants of companies whose business is moving cargo, not people, passenger railways operate at the mercy of freight traffic. The consequences are many.

Passenger trains in Canada often have to pull on to sidings to let freight pass. Switches owned by CN have failed repeatedly in Ontario, inconveniencing tens of thousands of commuters, not to mention periodic freight derailments, one of which completely shut down VIA service between Toronto and Montreal last summer.

The freight railways’ ownership of the tracks makes public investment in upgraded infrastructure less attractive, since riders may not enjoy their full benefits, and transit planners must get private-sector approval for service improvements.

If train travel is to be a viable alternative to driving within and flying between Canada’s metropolitan areas, this situation is unacceptable.

Rectifying it should be part of a comprehensive plan to improve Canadian railways. Not only is this the only G8 country without high-speed trains, but the intercity network depends on 20-year-old diesel locomotives, now being refurbished by VIA for decades more in service. Of the four busiest Canadian airports, three have no rail links, and no trains connect Calgary and Edmonton, just 300 km apart.

Although the Conservative government has pitched in for some limited upgrades to commuter networks and released enough funds to halt VIA’s long decline, much more is needed. Happily, rail agencies already have detailed but largely unfunded investment plans.

A modern rail system should be a principal goal of the infrastructure spending in January’s federal budget. That means making sure that people, not cargo, take priority on the tracks.