Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

21 August 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1034, for 21 August 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Calendar

2 - Vancouver-Portland "alternative" : Matthew Buchanan, Transport 2000

"Amtrak has begun a second daily round-trip train from Vancouver to Portland after the federal government agreed to temporarily waive border inspection fees," the Vancouver Sun reported on Aug. 20. "The new service began on Wednesday and will continue until at least the close of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It had originally been scheduled to start last year but Amtrak held off after the Canada Border Services Agency indicated it wanted to charge a $1,500 daily inspection fee," the Sun's Jeff Lee wrote.

Matthew Buchanan, Transport 2000 BC vice president reports: "This improved service will enable travellers in Vancouver to make same day visits to Seattle and for the first time in years, to travel all the way to Portland by rail. Two daily departures from Vancouver will increase flexibility for travellers, increase transportation options, and provide a stress-free relaxing alternative to freeway travel along the congested I-5 corridor."

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/Amtrak+second+Vancouver+Portland+train+begins+service/1913410/story.html

3 - Vers le tramway « trop doucement » : Normand Parisien, Transport 2000

« À l'aube du cinquantenaire de la disparition complète des tramways à Montréal, le 30 août, l'administration Tremblay continue de déblayer le terrain pour le retour de ce mode de transport en commun: le feu vert à la phase 2 de l'étude de faisabilité de la ligne Côte-des-Neiges-centre-ville vient en effet d'être donné par le comité exécutif pour un montant de 3,5 millions de dollars. Les protramway applaudissent... mais attendent la suite » Le Devoir a rapporté le 15 août 2009

«C'est une bonne nouvelle, oui, mais dans un dossier qui avance trop doucement», a commenté hier Normand Parisien, directeur général de Transport 2000, une association de défense et de promotion du transport en commun.

6,5 kilomètres pour 115 millions$: « Proportionnalité ? » David Jeanes, Transport 2000

« Les grands promoteurs du transport en commun en Outaouais sont d'accord avec le prolongement de l'autoroute 5 ... 6,5 kilomètres permettra de désengorger la route 105 entre Chelsea et Wakefield. Entre 13000et 14000 véhicules y circulent à chaque jour. Mais d'un autre côté, ils se disent qu'un investissement de 115 millions$ est immense par rapport à ce qu'Ottawa a consenti aux infrastructures ferroviaires dans son plan de relance économique » Le Droit a rapporté le 15 août.

"Il ne semble pas y avoir une très grande proportionnalité entre les investissements dans les infrastructures routières et ferroviaires. En juillet, le gouvernement fédéral a annoncé près de 300 millions$ pour l'amélioration des liens ferroviaires entre Toronto et Montréal. Et là, on annonce près de la moitié de cette somme pour seulement 6,5 kilomètres d'autoroute", compare David Jeannes, le président de l'organisme Transport 2000.

4 - VIA Rail Canada: 5% operating budget cut ?

David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000 Canada, wrote Minister of Transport John Baird last month expressing alarm at the Government directive to VIA Rail Canada to reduce its annual operating budget by 5%. Transport 2000 has learned VIA Rail has asked unions to negotiate a reduction of the workforce, commensurate with reductions in frequency across the country. Yesterday ,VIA apparently asked the meetings be put off for about 10 days.

5 - Aviation Safety: RAIDS and Martin Eley DG Civil Aviation

On Aug. 19 Aviation Safety News reported on the rash of helicopter crashes. It links stories about Transport Canada's Martin Eley DG Civil Aviation and the Restricted Area Identification Card and CATSA's use of Behaviour detection officers.

Transport 2000 Canada helps produce Aviation Safety News is represented on the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council.

6 - No sign of long, long trucks

Transport 2000 members in Ontario are urged to document sightings of trucks with two 53-foot trailers. There are sign of them yet. On June 1. Truck News reported: "(T)he province announced the launch of a year-long pilot project Apr. 16, which will allow up to 50 Ontario trucking companies to operate two LCVs each beginning as early as June. ... We are taking a careful look at long combination vehicles to test their benefits," announced Ontario Transport Minister, Jim Bradley. "The additional advantages to our environment and economy would be welcomed."

Transport 2000 notes the Minister will have difficulty examining safety benefits when his most recent road safety statistics are for 2005.

7 - Liberal high-speed rail platform plank?

"With blessings from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, Joe Volpe, the party's transportation critic, has been out beating the fast-rail drums. High-speed rail will be Canada's largest-scale project since the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Mr. Volpe says" the Globe and Mail reported on August 20.

"Liberals see the HSR benefits as outweighing the cost. ... On construction alone, never mind the spinoffs, Mr. Volpe estimates that 270,000 jobs will be created over a 10-year period. On the environment, he talks of taking planes out of the sky, cars off the road, carbon emissions out of the air, " the Globe's Lawrence Martin wrote.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/slow-speed-liberals-boarding-high-speed-train/article1257494/

8 - Peterborough-Toronto commuter rail

The Peterborough Examiner quoted Mayor Paul Ayotte: "It's not if, it's when." A Transport Canada study to be released in October will cost welded tracks and bypassing the Agincourt yards. Canadian Pacific, through its subsidiary Kawartha Lakes Railway, operates the rail line between Havelock and Summerhill Station in Toronto, the Peterborough Examiner reported on Aug. 19.

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1705378

9 - The transit crisis is now: Ottawa Citizen

"With gas at the bottom of a recession still hovering at the lofty 94-cent-a-litre level and noted economist Jeff Rubin predicting that price to rise to $2 a litre in less than three years, the transit crisis is now," the Ottawa Citizen editorialized on Aug. 19. The editorial noted Ottawa's transit plans are in disarray.

"People will instead be flocking to our old-fashioned, inefficient, dismal, expensive Transitway to avoid high gas costs while communities with which we compete for business will be far ahead of us. Meanwhile, the completion date for our new, improved light-rail plan is 2031," the Ottawa Citizen editor wrote.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Refreshing+talk+rail/1906996/story.html

10 - Vancouver: Canada Line makes debut

"In just the first three hours of service, TransLink estimated that more than 30,000 people rode the ($2.05-billion) 19-kilometre connection between Vancouver, Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport," the Province reported on Aug. 18.

http://www.theprovince.com/Thousands+line+ride+Canada+Line+makes+debut/1904631/story.html

11 - Waterloo to Toronto in 2 hours: GO trains will be slow

"GO Transit has proposed intercity rail service starting in 2011, if the province funds the plan. A prototype schedule shows it would take two hours for most daily GO trains to reach Toronto's Union Station from downtown Kitchener (101 kilometres). An express train would get to Union Station in one hour, 49 minutes," the Waterloo Region reported on Aug. 15

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/585294

12 - The Rocky Mountaineer reduce frequency by one third in 2010

Harry Gow reports: "The frequencies will drop starting in July. The season will end early with an interruption in service from Sep. 15th to Oct. 5th, followed by shut-down. Train days will become irregular and with reduced service this will make planning harder for tour operators.

Transport 2000 has learned that a large generalist tour operator has moved all its business to VIA (!) and another operator will wait until winter before planning any tours on the RM. Jasper and Banff would lose one third of trips and some weeks would get none. This will hit the Jasper economy hard, as would any cut by VIA.

The Olympic Games will create increased demand for travel and this will continue after the Games. The reduced RM service illustrates the need to keep VIA services at present frequencies or better. Despite postponement of the day of reckoning, intervenors should be writing their MPs to urge that the 5% budget cut be rescinded said Jeanes.

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

www.transport2000.ca.