Ottawa, Queen’s Park should climb aboard same train
Ontario needs a fast, efficient passenger train service running along the Toronto-Windsor corridor.
But it doesn’t need two.
That’s why the provincial Liberals and the federal Liberals need to start talking to each other — pronto.
Both governments are considering separate plans that would spend billions of taxpayers’ dollars on enhanced passenger train systems in the same part of Ontario.
Surely it makes more sense for them to work together.
But there, in last week’s federal budget, was a commitment from Finance Minister Bill Morneau to replace Via Rail’s aging passenger fleet on the Windsorto-Quebec City line as well as to study whether those trains will get their own dedicated tracks through parts of the busy corridor.
Via wants the new trains — which would have a total of 9,100 passenger seats and could travel at speeds up to 177 km/h — up and running by 2022.
While the federal budget doesn’t say what the new trains will cost, Via estimates the bill could hit
$1.3 billion.
And it would cost far more to build a dedicated track to separate freight and passenger lines. The budget committed $8 million just to study the feasibility of this Via request, which would result in much faster service.
Via’s ambitions deserve full consideration. At the same time, the Ontario government’s high-speed train ambitions deserve consideration, too.
Premier Kathleen Wynne has raised the prospect of trains running at speeds of up to 250 km/h between Windsor and Toronto. Both proposals have merits. Communities across southern Ontario, not just those in the corridor, would benefit if either one proceeds.
Not only would faster, more frequent passenger train service get cars off the highways and reduce gridlock, it could reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.
Regrettably, the two levels of government seem to be working at cross purposes.
Those shiny — and soon-to-be-paid-for — new Via trains will, presumably, run on the same Windsor-toToronto corridor Wynne wants her high-speed trains to use.
Can this corridor support two passenger train systems?
Would the federal government agree to fund both? Could we wind up with a faster, Ontario-government-run passenger service from Windsor to Toronto and a slower Via service from Toronto to Quebec City?
Is that logical from a business or operational perspective?
Is Ontario’s high-speed project competing with Via’s proposal for federal cash? And if high-speed is the way to go, why not have one player running it from Windsor to Quebec City?
It’s time for Queen’s Park and Ottawa to get together to answers these questions.
They should end the needless waste of time and money on overlapping efforts.
Today, we see two government trains headed toward each other on the same policy track.
If nobody stops or slows down, look out!
Not only would faster, more frequent passenger train service get cars off the highways and reduce gridlock, it could reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.