Federal government considering restoring investment in Via Rail: Lapierre

ISABELLE RODRIGUE

OTTAWA (CP) - Two years after cancelling a $700-million investment in Via Rail, the federal government is considering an increase in funding for the passenger rail service.

"In the short term, we must stop strangling Via and allow it to come up to standard," Transport Minister Jean Lapierre told The Canadian Press.

"Otherwise, it's the opposite of the Hygrade hot dog: "the less we have good equipment, the less we're on time, the fewer passengers we have. In short, the situation is deteriorating."

Lapierre said a decision on increased funding for Via should be made "in the next few months," although the upcoming federal election campaign could mess up those plans.

He also believes the government could invest billions of dollars in Via in the long term.

One of Paul Martin's first decisions after he became prime minister in December 2003 was to axe a plan by predecessor Jean Chretien's government to spend $700 million on Via over three years.

The money was earmarked for infrastructure improvements that would have paved the way for faster train service in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor with a project dubbed Via Fast.

Budgetary cuts in the early 1990s have left Via with annual funding of about $170 million a year. The company's overall financing and revenues barely allow it to cover expenses, meaning Via has no wiggle room to develop or improve services.

Via has to dip into a special fund to pay for upkeep of its equipment but the fund will soon be depleted. Without additional financing by the end of 2007, Via may have no other choice but to reduce services.

Via's chief executive, Paul Cote, told a parliamentary committee last week the rail service required an additional $700 million in the three years beginning in 2008 - $408 million to improve infrastructure and $305 million to repair and renovate train cars.

"If there is no investment in our equipment, and our maintenance costs go up, we'll have to make up the difference through a reduction in services," Cote told the committee.

Lapierre said Canadians, who pay for the Crown corporation, must ask themselves if they are interested in funding an "efficient and rapid" train service.

The transport minister also said his cabinet colleagues want the government to remain committed to safeguarding the future of passenger train service.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Wouldn't it be nice for the West to have Via service, oh well, we just live here.

Oh please god get the Feds to approve the investment in Via Rail. Feds were so proud to announce that Hamilton is gonna get a Via Station and than wham Martin becomes PM and it got cancelled. All well Tony Valeri (Hamilton MP) was TRANSPORT Minister. Prick.

Bah, screw VIA. It doesn't even service Calgary.

Lapierre said a decision on increased funding for Via should be made "in the next few months," although the upcoming federal election campaign could mess up those plans.



I hate to be cycnical, but this looks exactly like a pre-election posturing to me.

I hate to be cycnical, but this looks exactly like a pre-election posturing to me.

Probably!

On terms of politics, I support the Conservatives, but I think they won't be good for VIA Rail. It's not present really in the West; some officials were implicated in the Gomery scandal- it already had an association with the Liberal Party/Bombardier/Quebec.

Also, if you look at their policies on infrastructure, they don't mention passenger rail specifically for improvement (besides safety), as they do for highways and airplanes. I think this shows that it's not as big of a priority for them. Plus the risk of privatization.

Isn't the Conservative policy is to privatize Via rail? Or did that change after the Canadian Alliance.

i would go to montreal a lot more often if it was faster to get there on VIA.

^^^car is still faster than the train, with 234534 stops and a lousy speed of 130kmh, who would want to take the train???

The west is too spread out for passenger rail to attract customers other than sightseers, flying is faster at around the same cost or less for a ticket. But wouldn't it be cool to have Maglev connection from Vancouver to Calgary? :tongue2:

^^^car is still faster than the train, with 234534 stops and a lousy speed of 130kmh, who would want to take the train???


that's not true at all. there are express trains that get to montreal in 4 hours 15 mins.

and if they were going to make a high speed train it would get there in 3 hours.

well, there is service between prince rupert, bc, and edmonton alberta. but i think it runs once a day or something like that. i can't remember, i took it once to smithers from rupert.

but wouldn't it be good to have a high speed link between edmonton and calgary? that would be a good investment

that's not true at all. there are express trains that get to montreal in 4 hours 15 mins.

and if they were going to make a high speed train it would get there in 3 hours.

Last time I did MTL-TO in 4:30 with 4 stops alongway to piss and fill up.

Last time I did MTL-TO in 4:30 with 4 stops alongway to piss and fill up.

It depends on which train you were in. If I remember correctly, there's one express train which goes from TO to Dorval without stops in under four hours; there's another one that calls at every stop along the way, which makes the trip over five hours. There's also a problem with track conditions between Gare Centrale and Dorval. The trains have to slow down after they have passed through Lachine station, that makes travel time between Dorval and Gare Centrale more than 25 mins. Whereas in Toronto, trains only slow down 5 minutes before reaching Union station. If VIA wants HSR between MTL and TO, this issue has to be addressed.

to clarify, i did it in 4:30 with my car not a train.

well, there is service between prince rupert, bc, and edmonton alberta. but i think it runs once a day or something like that. i can't remember, i took it once to smithers from rupert.

but wouldn't it be good to have a high speed link between edmonton and calgary? that would be a good investment

that would be awesome... I'm wondering when Alberta will start it's spending spree... I would have thought the whole province would be paved with gold by now, so to speak.

Instead of going to t\Thunder Bay, where people are, VIA goes to Armstrong, a town of, what, 7?

VIA sucks.

Bah, screw VIA. It doesn't even service Calgary.

Well that's a little unfair. No wonder the rest of the developed world has high speed rail except Canada. Internal bickering. "Well if I can't get it, nor should they". Hell I'd be happy if you guys got a rail from Calgary to Edmonton' that is if it's necessary (is there enough traffic to justify the costs?).

Hwy 401 which runs from Windsor, through Toronto to the Quebec border (and then extends to Montreal and Quebec city via Autoroute2) is the most heavily used highway in the world. The sheer amount of trucks that roll out from Detriot to Ontario is astronomical and it is the the busiest international crossing in the world. Also, about 60% of Canada's population is within 100km of this corridor.

Alberta has argued when it comes to oil that when Alberta gains, Canada gains. I absolutely agree and therefore support any improvements to infrastructure to accomodate this.
Increasing capacity along this corridor will help all of Canada as well through better flow of goods. This should be supported by all of Canada as well.

Throughout Canada, the megaprojects (multi-billion$) that I know of which will benefit all of Canada include:
Vancouver: Seaport Expansion (for expected trade increase with Asia)
Stadium/highway/public transit (mostly tied to olympics)
Calgary: Major expansion of mass transit
Alberta: Major expansion of oil refinaries and proposed McKenzie pipeline
Toronto: Airport expansion (to compete with USA hub airports)

The west is too spread out for passenger rail to attract customers other than sightseers, flying is faster at around the same cost or less for a ticket. But wouldn't it be cool to have Maglev connection from Vancouver to Calgary? :tongue2:
That would be cool; or to Victoria/Whistler/Seattle.

That'd be great. In Alberta, is there no train service between Calgary and Edmonton? I think any other route would be a big money loser. It's just too sparsely populated out west. I think it should be to serve the greatest amount of people, not just to have service to have a presence there.

In Alberta, is there no train service between Calgary and Edmonton?

No, there is no such service here. You can't take a train from Calgary to anywhere. To get to Edmonton you have a choice of a 3 hour drive, taking a bus, or an short plane flight (which is too expensive to even consider given the short distance).

And I might add that the Edmonton-Calgary route on the QE2 is one of the most heavily used routes in the country.

That's strange, I'm sure some money can be made. Surely there are rail lines, though, right, if they wanted to (VIA)? Like the London-Paris, etc., I think the train might be slower, but the time it takes to get to the airport, and taxiing on runways is more.

Here is a map of rail lines in Alberta:
http://www.proximityissues.ca/Maps/RAC-2004-AB_sub.pdf

Both CPR and CN have routes running between Calgary and Edmonton. The quickest is the CPR route. They are both freight-only though.

I guess there is so much traffic (freight) between the two, it'd be hard to get passenger lines on them without adding extra tracks.