Faster trains going through Canada

by Jim Repass
TRA Advisor
Founder of National Corridors Initiative

Central Canada eventually will have faster train service even though Ottawa didn’t include the funding in last month’s federal budget, Via Rail chairman Jean Pelletier said Last week.

“Our project is reasonable and responsible,” Pelletier said March 10 following a speech to the Canadian Club in Montreal.

Pelletier, who is Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s former chief of staff, said circumstances – including difficulties faced by airlines to provide short-haul service and efforts to improve the environment – ultimately will push the government to act.

The crown corporation has requested about $3 billion to acquire trains that will be faster, although they won’t achieve European high-speed standards, the Canadian Press reported.

Pelletier said Via’s request represents about a quarter of the $12 billion to $15 billion cost for a system similar to France’s high-speed TGV.

“I’m confident that this mandate we have asked for will be granted (by the government),” he later told reporters.

Upgraded trains would cut the travel time between Montreal and Toronto by one to three hours. Toronto to Montreal is about the same distance as Chicago to Cleveland.

Transport Minister David Collenette recently said he expects a high-speed rail corridor from Quebec City through Montreal and Toronto to Windsor will be a reality this decade.

Pelletier said he supports intermodal service using trains, planes and buses, and doesn’t want to start a war of words with Air Canada or providers of other modes of transportation.

“We have no interest in engaging in a game of tug o’ war and squabbling with the other carriers over who is entitled to what based on resources, infrastructure and sector of operation,” he said as Montreal-based transportation giant Bombardier unveiled its new turbine-powered train, dubbed JetTrain.

Via’s commitment to intermodal service could, for example, allow Ottawa residents to take a train to Montreal before catching a flight to Europe.

Via Rail boosted ridership last year by 10 per cent over 2001 in the important Quebec-Windsor corridor. Preliminary year-end results showed revenues increased to a record $270 million, marking the 12^th consecutive year of revenue growth for the train operator.

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Used by Permission
Copyright 2003, NCI, Inc.
Reprint from Destination Freedom, Vol. 4, No. 11.