The fastest passenger trains in the USA are one step closer to New York. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $745 million in mass transit funding yesterday to improve the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor line between New York City and Trenton, N.J. READ THE STORY HERE

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-...

President Obama announced on January 28,2010 funding for high speed and higher speed rail projects in the USA. High Speed Rail Canada would like to evaluate these announcements from a Canadian prospective. From a macro view these announcements are visonary and begin the process of the modernization of passenger rail in North America. Canadians would benefit greatly by their government also realizing that there is the same need in Canada to improve passenger rail service here by improving existing services and building true high speed lines like the ones announced in Florida. Specifically this funding will increase on time performance (OTP) and shorten trip duration on three Amtrak trains that serve Canada. The Cascades - is an Amtak train that runs between Portland,Seattle, and Vancouver. There are currently two trains a day from Seattle to Vancouver. One of these trains goes through to Portland. It is an 8 hour trip and it costs $60.00 one way. OTP was 69% in 2008. A substantial inve...