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Showing posts from July, 2011

VIA Rail Struggles On the North Main Line

When the federal government gave $923 million to VIA Rail for capital investment, part of the money given VIA stated was for the rebuilding 3 rail diesel cars (RDC) for new service on the North Main Line.(NML Sarnia-London-Stratford-Kitchener-Guelph-Toronto) This decision was in line with VIA Rail’s stated Corporate Plan for improvements to the North Main Line. It was also reinforced in the Environmental Study completed by GO Transit relating to their introduction of passenger trains on the NML to Kitchener. An appendix in the study stated VIA would be adding three trains each way on the line. Unfortunately this is not going to happen. So what happened and why does no one care? Enter Goderich Exeter Railway (GEXR), owned by Rail America, who lease the CN north mainline. Their relationship with VIA Rail is one of conflict. They are in disagreement about the price VIA Rail should pay to be on the line. Two times GEXR had complaints with the Canadian Transportation Agency to fi

The Slow Death of Passenger Rail Service Between Ontario and the USA

Perhaps the most chilling example of our archaic Canadian passenger rail system is the current debacle facing the Amtrak The Maple Leaf train that runs from Toronto to New York. In my lifetime I may be witness to the elimination of all passenger rail trains between Ontario and the USA. While most countries have seamless movements of people between countries by rail, successive Canadian federal governments have failed to have any policy or plan for cross border passenger rail service. The end result is that two of three passenger rail crossings between Ontario and the USA are extinct, while the third crossing at Niagara Falls for the Toronto – New York train is on life support. I am from Windsor, Ontario, and saw first hand the elimination of the Detroit -Windsor border when the Amtrak Niagara Rainbow passenger train was eliminated on January 31st, 1979 after almost a century of passenger rail service. After moving to the Waterloo Region, I experienced the death of the Toronto-

Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Rail Line 2 - Video Links

Always amazing to see videos of the latest high speed rail lines. Here are two relating to China's latest lines. The first one is in chinese but is mainly shot inside the train. It is in chinese but shows all the amenities the train has. My favourite part is 1:36 into the video where the reporter balances a drink on the arm of the chair to show the smooth ride! CLICK HERE The other video is in english and can be seen here .