Written by Saymon Hwaier
Today on July 22 of 2021, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced that our government will be studying the opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in the southwestern Ontario, including Windsor, to see how transportation services can be improved.
While the Government of Canada begins the process of acquiring additional High-Frequency Rail services in the Toronto to Quebec City Corridor, efforts will also be made to examine how passenger rail services “might be” enhanced to better serve regions of southwestern Ontario, such as London and Windsor.
Through the High Frequency Rail Joint Project Office, the Government of Canada will collaborate with key partners such as VIA Rail and the Canada Infrastructure Bank to ensure that any improvements to passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario are seamlessly integrated with the core High Frequency Rail route in the Toronto to Quebec City Corridor.
The new service would run on electricity contributing to a green economy and creating good middle class jobs. This would encourage travellers to use rails instead of other modes of transportation that produce pollution.
To ensure that improvements to passenger rail services benefit travellers the most, the Government of Canada will reach out to the Province of Ontario to identify areas of collaboration and avoid any repetition with provincial transportation plans, including new services to be offered by GO Transit and Metrolinx.
Quote:
“The new service will improve the system’s reliability from an average of 67 per cent to as much as 95 per cent ensuring that a 3 hour trip does not become a 3 and a half hour trip or even 4 hour. With these improvements the number of daily departures could triple and it would bring new services.”
The Honourable Omar Alghabra
Minister of Transport
