I have long thought if any HSR proposal is going to work in the USA. It is this one that partners with Japan Railway and its bullet trains. High-speed rail gaining momentum in Texas | Your Commute | News from Fort Worth, Dallas,...

Full credit to MP Olivia Chow for her introduction of private members BILL C-577 - An Act respecting VIA Rail Canada and making consequential amendments to another Act. Here is her statement in the house March 4th introducing the bill. Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present the VIA Rail protection bill. The bill presents a vision for the future of VIA Rail. It lays out a clear mandate and government structure. It gives it a larger say in determining its funding needs and frees the railway board from patronage appointments. By strengthening VIA Rail's position vis-à-vis CN and CP, delays for passenger trains would also be reduced. Currently VIA Rail has no clearly delineated rights, powers, obligations, or mandated targets. Without legislative protection, it has suffered years of neglect and devastating service cuts. It is time to secure VIA Rail's role and responsibility through a federal law. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed). Her point t

With passenger rail lines on the verge of extinction with the Ontario Northland Service from Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst Ontario and VIA Rail service in the Maritimes, it may seem awkward to be writing about the big dream of restoring passenger rail service from Portland to Montreal. I do feel that updates are worthwhile. A February 26th article from the Portland Express Herald has stated that, The federal Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday granted permission to the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad to discontinue freight service on 24 miles of track between the Auburn city line and Portland. The decision – to be effective on March 27 – means B&M, the railroad’s only customer on the line, will lose the train service unless the bean plant is willing to subsidize it. Read the rest of the article HERE . B&M, which has been making baked beans in its five-story brick factory on the waterfront since 1913, currently gets nearly all of its small pea beans delivered by rail

The Green Party of Canada has started a campaign to get more funding for VIA Rail. As the Harper government continues to cut VIA Rail services across Canada, VIA's very survival is at risk. To the credit of the Green Party their support for passenger rail renewal has been consistent over the years. Elizabeth May travelled by train on her Whistle Stop Tour in 2008. In the last federal election the Green Party announced their support for high speed rail in a VIDEO . Now they have an on-line petition " Get back on Track " you can sign to support renewal of passenger rail. Here are some good graphs on the Green Party Site regarding Harper government passenger rail declining investment in VIA. http://www.greenparty.ca/back-on-track Also Bruce Hyer, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay–Superior North and Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada embarkedon a rail trip from Halifax to Montreal this past Sunday, in order to push for a national transportation strategy and to