LONDON FREE PRESS - Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau appeared to lean toward Via Rail’s dedicated rail plan over a provincially-backed high-speed train corridor through Southwestern Ontario when he attended an event in London Wednesday. Speaking to the London Chamber of Commerce, Garneau said improvements to passenger rail service could come with a Via Rail plan to create a dedicated passenger rail track corridor in southern Ontario. Under the plan, Via would take over lines now used for freight traffic. In an interview, Garneau said Via’s plan would allow for more frequent service, no interference from freight traffic and higher speeds than conventional trains, though well below the 200- to 300-km/h clip of high-speed rail. “That’s the essence of the Via proposal and that’s what we are looking at seriously and if that is a workable solution, that will address the issue,” said Garneau.

For fans of the North Main LIne, Toronto-Ktichener- London-Sarnia not a high speed rail study but interesting business case about increasing passenger rail frequencies on the line. From 2006. By UMA/AECOM  http://tinyurl.com/UMA2006