Via pitches high-frequency rail service
Ottawa weighing proposal that would put passenger trains on underused rights-of-way
Supporters of Via Rail’s bid to revive passenger service in communities like Peterborough, Ont., which saw its last Via train in the early 1990s, await its potentially transformative impact, but experts say advocates shouldn’t hold their breath on the chances of a dedicated high-frequency rail corridor becoming reality anytime soon.
Via’s past failed attempts to expand service in order to boost revenue don’t bode well for the rail operator’s existing pitch, said Matti Siemiatycki, a University of Toronto associate professor of geography and planning.
Siemiatycki said there have been many proposals over the years for high-speed rail that have fallen through because they would require construction of a whole new rail line.
Via trains can travel at speeds north of 160 km/h, but they’re restricted to 102 km/h, because freight trains often take priority on stretches of the existing Quebec City-Windsor corridor. Siemiatycki said since Via is unable to increase speeds on the current network of tracks, increasing the frequency of trains may be a viable solution.
“By going a slightly different route, they can use that to provide greater frequency,” he said. “Via realizes that if they’re going to compete, they’re going to have to provide a high level of frequency and flexibility until they can address the speed issue.”
Via’s pitch foresees adding trains on the existing Quebec City-Toronto corridor on top of expanding its service to a newly-proposed dedicated passenger route, which would see trains utilizing a network of underused freight tracks stretching from Ottawa to Toronto — making stops in communities like Smiths Falls and Peterborough along the way.
“They’ve been trying to figure out what to do with rail in this corridor for decades,” he said. “The economics of it has always been the main hurdle, in terms of the huge capital cost. No government has been willing to take on the full financial cost of what it would take to get this built.”
In this case, Via forecasts the project costing about $4 billion.
Via Rail touts the proposal as a means to triple the number of trips per day between Montreal and Toronto, and meet an emissions target akin to cutting the equivalent of at least 2.3 million cars from the road for a year, by 2050.
Transport Canada is expected to file its response this year to the business case submitted by the Crown corporation in 2016.
The existing Quebec City-Toronto route suffers from numerous bottlenecks because Via competes with freight for scheduling, with freight companies often winning priority due their ownership of certain stretches, Siemiatycki said.
Via officials said there are numerous railway rights-of-way sitting idle that can be repurposed and the high-frequency rail plan is aimed at upgrading those lightly used or abandoned rights-of-way.
“They’ve been struggling to provide a fast service,” Siemiatycki said. “This is in the context of increasing competition from air travel. The proposal is about making rail more competitive with air travel and the automobile as well.”
He said commuter rail has fall- en short of making a viable business case, up until now.
The 1980s were particularly tumultuous for the Via route through places like Havelock, Ont. and Peterborough.
The service was cut by the Liberal government as cost-saving measure in 1982, but was brought back by the Conservatives in 1985, which instructed Via to run the service for a twoyear trial with the help of $5.8 million in grants, according to Star stories at the time.
Advocates, like Stuart Harrison, president and CEO of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, is banking on Via getting another government lifeline.
“This would be transformative for our community,” Harrison said.
Harrison was part of a not-forprofit group, dubbed Shining Waters Rail, which spent several years commissioning experts to explore options. The group’s operations culminated with a study that caught Via’s attention.
“We did attract enough money from the provincial and federal governments to study the business case for it and do some pre-engineering and that’s the report that ended up on the desk” of Via’s CEO, Harrison said. “The work we had done literally changed their thinking about how they could get this done.”
Shining Waters Rail championed the reinstatement of passenger rail in Peterborough.
“Peterborough has the benefit of being on the Via (high-frequency rail) line as it’s proposed,” he said. “Via has given it life.”
Ottawa’s 2018 budget included $8 million to study the plan. A Via spokesperson said a government decision is expected in 2019.
A snapshot of the proposal posted to the Via website calls for a new fleet of diesel trains, with the prospect of utilizing hybrid electric down the road.
Via recently announced a $989-million contract — won by Germany’s Siemens AG — to modernize its existing fleet of 73 locomotives, with 32 new trains.
Via’s president and CEO, Yves Desjardins- Siciliano, noted during that announcement that Siemens could receive up to about $500 million more from the state-owned railway if it exercises options for another 16 trains on top of the 32 awarded.
The increased order could take place if the federal government approves Via Rail’s plan to add more departures between Quebec City and Toronto, in conjunction with the high-frequency rail project that includes a rail network dedicated to passenger traffic, Desjardins-Siciliano said. Federal Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef, who is the Peterborough-Kawartha MP, convened a community round-table in April to test appetite for the project. Participants included elected officials and First Nations representatives.
“Community buy-in is critical, especially for a project of this size,” Monsef said Thursday. “We (the federal government) invested $8 million to study what Via Rail was proposing for the high frequency rail. We see the value of going ahead with it, but we also want to make sure that we provide the due diligence.”
She credited the Shining Waters Railway group for championing the revival of passenger rail in Peterborough.
“By going a slightly different route, they can use that to provide greater frequency.” MATTI SIEMIATYCKI UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO