Horwath backs union push to operate LRT line

Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is on board with Hamilton’s transit union push to run the planned $1-billion light rail line with city workers.

Provincial rapid transit agency Metrolinx is in charge of the LRT project and intends to contract with a private consortium to design, build, operate and maintain the line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. But the HSR union has come out strongly against the plan, arguing public transit needs to remain in public hands.

Horwath, the MPP for Hamilton Centre, backed that argument Wednesday in a letter to provincial Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca.

“The Hamilton Street Railway should operate and maintain the LRT line, not a private contractor who is not accountable to the public,” she wrote.

Metrolinx is poised to issue calls for contract proposals this summer, but Horwath argued it’s not too late — and such a late change has been made before. She pointed to a 2012 decision to allow Toronto’s transit commission to run the Eglinton Crosstown, which is under construction, rather than the private consortium.

Metrolinx has argued private operators are a better bet for cities that have never operated modern rapid transit systems like Hamilton and Mississauga.

The HSR union has warned it has contract provisions that reserve established transit line operation for its members.