ON TRACK FOR TRAINS
By any international standard, Canada doesn’t have much of a train culture. One reason for that is and will always be geography — ironically, given the place the railway occupies in our national mythology. But the other reasons, particularly in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, are cultural, and cultures can change. Via Rail has a plan to do that. It’s a gamble, but it’s a good one.
“We’re either facing an unending increasing operating deficit, or we take steps to turn the tide by creating an environment that creates growth,” said Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, Via’s president and CEO, at a recent meeting with the Citizen’s editorial board.
Desjardins-Siciliano doesn’t want more public money; he wants more passengers. “The reality is, if the service was more reliable than it is today, then you could fill the trains to their capacity. Today we run at 60-per-cent capacity. If you could run the trains at 90-per-cent capacity, you’d eliminate the deficit today.”
Via’s experience suggests that when they add more frequency to a route, and make the service reliable and on time, lo and behold, ridership increases on those routes. Desjardins-Siciliano knows you can’t hector people into taking the train, despite the environmental benefits when compared to air travel or solo car travel; you have to make it worth their while.
At the moment, train travel from Ottawa to Montreal or Toronto might be a little more expensive than driving, for many people, but it has the benefit of being a more enjoyable experience: You can work on Wi-Fi, you can eat in relative comfort, your kids can stretch their legs and you don’t have to worry about parking or traffic. But the big drawback is flexibility. People want to know they can get home right away even if their meeting runs late, or can come home early if their kids get sick. And they want to know they’ll get to their destinations on time.
At the moment, Via shares some portions of the track with slower-moving freight trains. The only way Via can improve service is to build dedicated track. “Because of the current need for infrastructure spending and the opportunity to invest in infrastructure in Canada, we believe that can be built by private capital,” says Desjardins-Siciliano. “That’s why it’s a win for all parties: taxpayers, investors and the riding public.”
Maybe we could have a modest train culture after all. Maybe in a few years, Ottawans will hop on the LRT to the train station to go to Montreal for a concert, or Toronto for a meeting, as if it were nothing. There’s no point in investing in rail where it’s never going to be cost-effective. But a reliable, frequent service in urban areas is an attainable vision.