Transport 2000 Canada Hot Line

30 October 2009

This is the Transport 2000 Canada Hotline, issue number 1044, for 30 October 2009.

In this issue...

1 - Calendar

2 - Time for a Regina-Saskatoon passenger train says Transport 2000's Catherine Verrall

"Congratulations to all the people who had the vision and the driving initiative to persist in making the Last Mountain Railway a reality. The process began when alarm bells rang among many Saskatchewan organizations and municipalities, that the CNR was threatening to sell the track between Regina and Davidson for scrap. Then Transport 2000 Prairie organized a symposium in Saskatoon, bringing together affected stakeholders and knowledgeable persons in May, 2007," Catherine Verrall president, Transport 2000 Prairie region wrote in the Leader-Post on Oct. 23.

"Now that the track is saved, next must come the passenger train -- a self-propelling car, as is used on Vancouver Island, highly efficient and energy-saving. Granted, this will be a hugely challenging task, requiring the input of many stakeholders, including the two major cities. Such a rail trip between Regina and Saskatoon could be at least four times more energy efficient per passenger than a trip by car and nine times more efficient than by plane. We note that freight by truck burns nine times more fuel than by rail, as well as wrecking the highways," Verrall wrote in the Leader-Post.

http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Trains+back+future/2135686/story.html

3 - Train léger à travers le pont Prince-de-Galles

« Un élu d'Ottawa (Jacques Legendre) exige des explications de la Ville, après que le fondateur de Transport 2000 Canada, Harry Gow, ait publié une lettre dans LeDroit, dans laquelle il dénonce le "lobby anti-ferroviaire" de la municipalité. Dans une lettre parue lundi dernier, M.Gow soutient que ce n'est pas la Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) qui est à blâmer pour le blocage d'un projet de pont de train léger interprovincial. Il soutient que ce sont plutôt les bureaucrates de la Ville d'Ottawa qui ont freiné le projet via le pont Prince-de-Galles d'Ottawa à Gatineau. » Le Droit a rapporté le 24 octobre 2009,

4 - 5-year Transit plan for Halifax

"Plans for Halifax Regional Municipality (Halifax County) were presented to Council this week. By 2014, operating expenses are projected to be $72.5 million compared to $54.5 million last year. Ridership is expected to increase 16% from 19.6 million trips in 2008 to 22.8 million in 2014. Serious consideration will be given to making downtown arteries of Barrington St. and Spring Garden Rd. transit only routes. An expanded fleet of 37 more buses is planned for 2014 and a new ferry will be added to cross harbour links between Halifax and Dartmouth. Express routes are planned from downtown to far suburbs such as Tantallon, Musquodoboit Harbour, and Enfield. A free downtown shuttle seems to have been omitted from the plan, while a possible fast ferry from suburban Bedford is noted in a non-committal way," Transport 2000 John Pearce reports.

5 - Parking in Edmonton: Hedonic pricing

This week Victoria Transport Policy Institute published: "Who Is Really Paying For Your Parking Space? Estimating The Marginal Implicit Value Of Off-Street Parking Spaces For Condominiums In Central Edmonton" by Owen Jung. This master's thesis (economics) uses hedonic pricing to estimate the marginal effect of each additional structured parking space on condominium prices in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. ... The results suggest that retail prices do not fully reflect the parking costs.

http://www.vtpi.org/jung_parking.pdf

6 - Conserver le patrimoine des chemins de fer: TRAQ

« Louis-François Garceau, de Charny, se passionne pour tout ce qui touche les chemins de fer au Québec. Tellement, qu'il a fondé avec d'autres mordus le groupe et la revue TRAQ, un moyen de sauvegarder le patrimoine ferroviaire » Radio Canada a rapporté le 22 octobre. M. Garceau etait dans la programme « C'est çca la vie »

http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/c_est_ca_la_vie/2009-2010/Entrevue.asp?idDoc=94035

7 - Halifax container cargo traffic down 7%

"Container cargo traffic at Halifax's two terminals dropped 7% in the 3rd quarter of 2009. However the decline was less precipitous than averages down 26% in the U.S., Latin America down 21% and northern Europe off 19%. Thus rail container traffic out of Halifax seems to be holding up comparatively well in the recession period," Transport 2000's John Pearce reports.

"Halifax along with Norfolk, Virginia, is the only east coast port able to handle larger container ships of the future due to shallower drafts or bridge clearance problems elsewhere. Two new container ports are planned for Nova Scotia in the next 3-5 years. Sydney, Cape Breton will specialize in containers to be transferred to smaller vessels for St. Lawrence service, while the deep water port at Melford on the Strait of Canso will also focus on inland rail transport. A short link to the Cape Breton and Central N.S. Railway is planned on an abandoned rail right-of-way which served the former rail ferry to Cape Breton before the Causeway was built in the 1950's," Pearce reports.

8 - Ottawa mayor questioned on transit vision

"As a taxpayer in Ottawa, Ontario, and Canada, I am sure that I am not alone when I suggest that a multi-billion dollar decision is not the kind of decision to be made on the basis of signals from one's guts," Transport 2000's Barry Wellar wrote to Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien on Oct. 20. "I would therefore appreciate learning, Mr. O'Brien, the names of the different kinds of decision-making methodologies that you have used and will continue to use when making decisions about Ottawa transit," Transport 2000's Distinguished Research Fellow wrote. Dr. Wellar's two papers on Ottawa's light rail plan are on the Transport 2000 Canada's website. The full text is his letter is posted on Ottawa Citizen columnist Ken Gray's blog.

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/bulldog/archive/2009/10/28/professor-takes-on-o-brien-over-rail.aspx

9 - Via plans to spend $40M on new, upgraded stations

Canada's national passenger rail service is spending more than $40 million over the next two years for new railway stations around Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Windsor, Ont. as well as significant upgrades to existing stations, Canwest News Service reported on Oct. 27.

The outlay per province will be:

Canwest's Mike De Souza reported.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/plans+spend+million+upgraded+stations/2151798/story.html

10 - Corporation formed to help preserve 130 km rail line in the Ottawa valley

Transport Pontiac-Renfrew ... was formed in July in an effort to keep CN Rail from ripping up the tracks that run from Ottawa, through the Pontiac and Renfrew counties to Pembroke. ... CN has listed the 130 km of track known as the Beachburg Subdivision among those lines it wants to abandon. ... Those seeking to get a local train service going are moving quickly to head that effort off. The work to bring a local commuter/freight train to the valley has been spearheaded by SADC Pontiac Community Futures and its counterpart, the Community Futures Development Corporation of Renfrew County," the Pembroke Observer reported on Oct. 23.

"Time is running out, as CN could begin lifting the tracks next spring. (Whitewater councillor Izett McBride) said freight users of the rails have become involved as they are worried about losing this crucial link. Some of these freight users include a pellet plant at Bristol, ATC Panels in Pembroke and a pulp mill that is up for sale in Quebec. That mill could lose significant value if it lost its rail link, according to Mr. McBride," the Daily Observer's Anthony Dixon wrote.

http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2143290

11 - $262.5 million to four-lane 175 km of highway in Saguenay

"The Highway 73/175 project is gaining momentum - 90 per cent of this large-scale project is currently underway or complete," said Quebec Minister of Transport, Julie Boulet on Oct. 23. "We can already see how this four-lane divided stretch of Highway 175 enhances the safety of its users."

The opening of this stretch of road is part of the project to rebuild Highway 73/175 between Quebec City and the Saguenay region, from km 53.4 to km 227. The governments of Canada and Quebec are each committed to investing $262.5 million in the first phase of funding for this project.

12 - CATSA needs more cash: Hike in store Air Travellers' Security Charge?

"The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) declares in its latest annual report that it "may not be able to respond to evolving or new threats given the uncertainty of funding for years beyond (fiscal) 2009/10. ... renewing questions about whether the Air Travellers' Security Charge, the passenger fee meant to support 100 per cent of the agency's costs, needs to be increased or even eliminated in favour of a new and more consistent funding scheme," Ian MacLeod reported in the Ottawa Citizen on Oct. 27.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/CATSA+pleads+steady+funding/2148418/story.html

13 - Greyhound to continue bus service in Manitoba

The Manitoba government hopes to leave the driving to Greyhound after offering a package of route reductions and financial aid to keep the bus service in the province. ... The company says it loses more than $4 million per year in Manitoba on passenger service," Bill Redekop reported in the Winnipeg Free Press on Oct. 29.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/greyhound-to-continue-bus-service-in-province-67151622.html

14 - Oshawa GO/Via Station: Cross-Platform Transfers

"If the GO service is routed along the CP line, the current GO/Via station in Oshawa would become a Via station only. Any proposal to re-route the GO line must provide for a cost-effective way to address the issue of "Cross-Platform Transfers". In other words, public transportation systems must cease to see each other in isolation of everything else. I, for one, would not like to see the adoption of the most obvious of these solutions, i.e. Via closing its facility in Oshawa and relocating in Whitby, next to the GO Transit Rail Station," Transport 2000's Paul-André Larose wrote to Oshawa Express.

15 - Time for Canada to evaluate longer trucker hours?

"The Obama administration has agreed to reconsider a rule that allows long-haul truckers to drive for up to 11 hours straight, bowing to safety advocates who say longer hours could lead to greater fatigue and more accidents," Associated Press reported on Oct. 28.

In the U.S. Public Citizen, the Teamsters union and others successfully sued the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Authority for raising hours in 2004. The Safety Authority lost because it could not prove the new rules made things safer. In Canada the safety authority, Transport Canada, cannot be held to account. Because it also has a mandate to support the economy and to harmonize regulations, Transport Canada does not necessarily need to make new safety rules safer.

In Canada, in 2007, new regulations set trucker daily maximum driving time limit at 13 hours. Maximum weekly driving hours were increased from 60 to 77. Over 500 Canadians were killed in truck crashes in 2006 according to the most recent statistics available from Transport Canada.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iboW-jspDFOlt_-Qs4BjDX-XrgIAD9BJLMC00

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