Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

19 June 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1025, for 19 June 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Calendar

2 - Les plans pour la reconstruction de l'échangeur Turcot: « Inacceptables » dit Transport 2000

« Jugeant «inacceptables » les plans du ministère des Transports (MTQ) pour la reconstruction de l'échangeur Turcot, une cinquantaine d'organisations et d'experts demandent à Québec de retourner à la table à dessin et proposent une réduction de 30 000 véhicules par jour de la capacité du projet. ... Selon la coalition, il faudrait notamment transformer l'autoroute 20 en un boulevard urbain, entre les échangeurs Turcot et Montréal-Ouest, de façon à permettre le redéveloppement de la cour de triage Turcot » Jean-Louis Fortin écrivait pour l'Agence QMI le 15 juin.

« Les signataires, ... , proposent aussi d'enlever deux voies à l'autoroute Ville-Marie pour empêcher toute augmentation de la circulation automobile ... (Certains) « comme l'association Transport 2000 Quèbec, demandent d'aller de l'avant en raison de l'urgence de reconstruire les structures vieillissantes, mais proposent de bonifier substantiellement l'offre de transport en commun en plus de construire l'infrastructure routière. »

http://www2.canoe.com/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2009/06/20090615-233246.html

3 - Sault to Sudbury rail line: If it goes it won't come back Transport 2000 warns

"The president of Huron Central Railway says he's not playing a game of chicken with the provincial government -- Mario Brault really plans to pull up stakes, no matter what happens now. 'I'm not making this announcement to negotiate with the government,' said Brault," the Sault Star reported on June 17.

"The company announced late Monday its 300-kilometre freight line between the Sault and Sudbury is no longer economically viable. Operations are to end Aug. 15 on the western segment of the railroad, to McKerrow; the eastern segment, from McKerrow to Sudbury, will continue to operate to Oct. 31 to accommodate the Domtar paper mill in Espanola. Essar Steel Algoma is the line's primary client, and shipments of plate and coil ... could wind up being shipped west through Michigan according to industry sources," the Star's Frank Dubrovnik wrote.

While the Quebec government with the federal government have invested equally $75 million over five years to upgrade its short lines, Ontario has ignored the shortline industry preferring to pour money into roads and failed automakers. If the line is shutdown the infrastructure will degrade quickly. "Because maintenance stops, the line very rapidly gets to the point where it would be very costly to return to service. A railway has to be inspected continuously," the Star quoted David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000 Canada:

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1616548

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1618509

4 - The golden years of transit: Greg Gormick

"Whenever former TTC chief general manager Michael Warren puts pen to paper these days, he urges us to believe the 1970s were Toronto's golden transit years. Horsefeathers. That was a time when a lot of the damage we're now trying to undo got done. It was a time of all sizzle and no steak ... . Warren lauds making Metrolinx (just another new provincial bureaucracy) a super-agency responsible for operating every GTA transit system," Greg Gormick, Contributing Editor of Railway Age wrote in the Toronto Star on June 16.

"Sadly, Metrolinx and Warren's suggested framework for the future don't fit the bill. We don't need more lost decades of style over substance," Gormick wrote in the Star.

thestar.com/article/651217

www.thestar.com/comment/article/646501

5 - Aviation Safety News: Air France flight 447 and more

Transport 2000's Air passenger safety group in partnership with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre regularly reports on aviation safety. The June 16 issue of Aviation Safety News covers Air France flight 447, lasered in Vancouver, Air Canada labour agreements, the SMS appearance of safety, Black boxes obsolete, A330 'reliable', FAA inspector reassigned after Colgan warning and Prince George's ARCAL.

Transport 2000 Canada is represented on the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council. Transport 2000 and PIAC support airline passenger rights. PIAC and Transport 2000 oppose Aeronautics Act amendments to transfer primary responsibility for safety to the airlines. The amendments mandate industry-maintained "safety management systems" but have not been passed by Parliament. To subscribe to Aviation Safety News please advise the sender.

6 - Dean Del Mastro, MP and Transport 2000's Harry Gow to address Algoma Rail Summit

The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains is hosting an "Algoma Rail Summit: Getting Transportation on Track" on July 16th , 2009. We would like to see a variety of representation at this summit in order to get adequate feedback as to the needs of the communities in this part of Northern Ontario in regard to passenger rail service. It would be great to see some CAPT Supporters at this event!

The Algoma Rail Summit will begin with a train ride from Sault Ste. Marie to Searchmont. The train ride is optional and is at the cost of the participant. The cost of the train is $19.00. The train stops at approximately 10:40 am at the Searchmont Resort where the summit will take place. The Summit will begin at 11 am for those of you who wish to drive to Searchmont. ...

The keynote speaker for the History of Rail Policy in Canada is Harry Gow, founder of Transport 2000 a not-for-profit national organization. The keynote speaker for the Current Situation of Rail in Canada will be the Honourable Dean Del Mastro who is chair of the Federal All-Party Rail Caucus. For more information: lori.middaugh@algomau.ca

http://www.captrains.ca/index.html

7 - Rural Alberta dying on the vine: CN to shutdown Falher to Girouxville line

"With CN closing the rail line between Falher and Girouxville, the historic (Franco-Albertan) town faces a sadly uncertain future. This is another sad chapter in the dying-on-the-vine of rural Alberta community, but CN is not to blame. CN is a private company whose mandate is to make money for its shareholders. Now that the line is in need of repair, CN has simply made a business decision to cease operations and have the independent producers in Girouxville move to Falher. The blame lies in successive Canadian governments, who privatized CN in the first place. They did not hold out for any guarantees that the new private entity would protect the interests of rural Canada the way the Crown corporation did," the Edmonton Journal reported on June 13.

"Today, when a rail line needs substantial re-investment, the only factor is the cost/ profit ratio. If there is not enough profit, the line will be closed. When government washes its hands of its larger responsibilities to the people it serves, simple profit becomes the mitigating factor," the Journal's Todd Babiak wrote.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/fp/End+of+an+era/1692744/story.html

8 - Belgium inaugurates high-speed line

"BELGIUM officially opened its 42km high-speed line between Liège and the German border on June 12. The Euros 830 million 250km/h line is electrified at 25kV ac, with 14km of upgraded 160km/h 3kV dc tracks connecting it to the conventional networks," Railway Age reported on June 15.

"The new line will be used exclusively by international high-speed services. Three German Rail (DB) ICE services started operating on the new line in June and the line will also be used by six Paris-Brussels-Cologne Thalys services from December. Journey times between Brussels and Cologne have been reduced by 19min to 1h 57min, and the Liège - Cologne journey time has been cut by 22min to 1h 1min".

http://www.railjournal.com/newsflash/belgium-inaugurates-high-speed-line.html

9 - TSB to thoroughly investigate Ottawa valley derailment

"The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is promising a public report of its investigation into a train derailment that occurred 10 days ago east of Mattawa. Board spokesman John Cottreau said the investigation is being conducted because the derailment was relatively serious, with two crew members suffering minor injuries and hundreds of litres of diesel fuel spilling into the Ottawa River," the North Bay Nugget reported on June 13.

"The derailment of the Ottawa Valley Railway train June 3, approximately 15 kilometres east of Mattawa, sent six of 29 cars off the track, and at least one of the cars slid into the adjacent Ottawa River. Two train engines rolled onto their sides, spilling diesel fuel into the waterway upstream from communities such as Deux Rivieres and Pembroke".

" ... Jordan said the railway is now estimating only 1,500 litres of diesel fuel spilled into the river, with 1,780 litres recovered from the engine fuel tanks. ... Michelle King, a spokeswoman for the Ottawa Valley Railway, said the cars and engines have been rerailed and removed from the area," the Nugget's Gord Young wrote.

http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1611711

10 - Please don't privatize VIA Rail: Avrom Stern

"The British experience suggests that government needs to play a role in all forms of transport including passenger rail. British Rail's privatization initially led to chaos, countless derailments, an increase in subsidies, scattered services, and the ultimate collapse and renationalization of the rail infrastructure. ... VIA must not be allowed to rot .... placing VIA back into the private sector is unrealistic and will ultimately bring an end to most passenger services in Canada," Avrom Stern wrote in a letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette.

11 - Retour du train des Jeux

« La Commission de Transport (TEO) et les Glengarry Highland Games récidivent cette année en proposant un train aller-retour vers la grand-messe des Écossais dans l'Est ontarien. Le Train des Jeux, assuré par VIA Rail, transportera 68 personnes d'Ottawa à Maxville le samedi 1eraoût. Le train partira d'Ottawa (gare ch. Tremblay) à 9h55 avant de se rendre à destination. Le retour se fera dès 18h50 pour permettre aux voyageurs de participer à la plupart des événements. Le nombre de sièges étant limité, les intéressés doivent réserver leur place avant la fin juin. Le coût pour l'excursion est de 30$ (gratuit pour les enfants de moins de deux ans) et l'admission générale au site est de 20$ (gratuit pour les enfants de 12 ans et moins). Les billets sont disponibles aux magasins Scottish & Irish du boulevard St-Laurent et du chemin Robertson à Ottawa » Le Droit a rapporté le 12 juin.

12 - High-speed rail service from Windsor to Quebec City: "Political will needed" David Jeanes says

"As we've long argued, a modernized rail line would generate new jobs, promote economic development and reduce pollution. Trains travelling at 200 km/h -- common in other parts of the world -- would radically change the way we think about travel and open up tremendous economic opportunities. A two-way commute from Windsor to Toronto, for example, would take only three hours -- making it easier for both business and pleasure travel," the Windsor Star editorialized on June 13.

"As Transport 2000 Canada president David Jeanes has pointed out, Canada is far behind most other industrialized nations when it comes high-speed rail. 'Every aspect of high-speed rail has been studied to death,' said Jeanes. 'What we need is the political will. ..."

"High-speed rail is more than feasible -- it's a doable project that could lead to local economic opportunities and bring Canadian rail travel into the 21st century," the Star said.

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/todays-paper/High+speed/1692336/story.html

Thank you for calling the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline. For additional information, please contact our web site at:

www.transport2000.ca.