3 Recent News Articles on High Speed Rail in Ontario Commit to 2-Way, All-day GO and High Speed Rail, Kitchener Council Tells Political Leaders - This news article comes from the CBC, May 8th, 2018 .'If we don't push for it, then these sorts of things definitely will not happen,' Coun. Davey says. Two-way, all-day GO train service and high-speed rail are needed to ensure Waterloo region can continue to grow its tech sector — that was the message from Kitchener council on Monday. Council voted unanimously to send a letter to the leaders of all political parties at the federal and provincial level, asking them to commit to two-way, all-day GO trains by 2024 and high-speed rail through the region by 2025. Make High-Speed Rail and All-Day GO Rail an Election Issue - This opinion column is from The Record newspaper written by the City of Kitchener Mayor Barry Vrbanovic May 7th, 2018. Citizens, students and businesses across Waterloo Region are clear about the n...

Safety must be a priority for future Ontario passenger rail lines RE The Record: High-speed rail plan may cause hardship for rural Ontario — April 18 The column by Luisa D'Amato about a possible high-speed rail line between London and Toronto missed a significant point. Her focus seemed to be demeaning Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals as the opening and closing statements in the column clearly showed. She is quick to support the alternative to high-speed rail without even considering the basic facts with respect to the comparison of traditional passenger rail and high-speed rail. Many of the concerns brought forward by the advocacy group InterCityRail spokesperson Nicole Langlois could be easily mitigated during the design stage of the project. The biggest mistake D'Amato and Langlois made was suggesting that the solution of putting more trains on the existing line is the answer. From a safety prospective this approach is the most dangerous option. The existing rail ...

Ontario Federation of Agriculture Criticism of High Speed Rail Flawed The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is objecting to the proposed High Speed Rail line for Ontario.  President Keith Currie stated to CBC that. “You're looking at a line that cannot be crossed at a level of crossing ... That essentially is going to be dividing the province in half."  It is disheartening to read his comments because it clearly shows the anti-high speed rail opinion is based on rhetoric and not fact.  The reality is the study is not even been done stating exactly where the route will go or how it will be built. True high speed rail is grade separated from roads. If people would wait for the study to be completed they could see that many of the problems brought forward by the OFA can be remediated in the design stage.  Mr. Currie’s comments about the high speed rail being urban-centric are narrow minded.  When rural Ontario gets new recreation centres/arena...

Wynne says fast trains the route to economic prosperity Terry Pender - Waterloo Record - April 7th, 2018 -   Premier Kathleen Wynne believes a high-speed rail line will unlock the economic potential of the technology cluster between here and Toronto. "I am very committed to this," said Wynne. During campaign-like appearances in London and Kitchener on Friday, Wynne talked about her government's future vision for the province — a place where high-speed trains carry people to good-paying jobs along the Toronto Waterloo Region Corridor, which is second only to Silicon Valley for the number of tech workers and is responsible for 17 per cent of Canada's GDP. Read the full article HERE . Here’s what the Liberal’s proposed Toronto-Waterloo high-speed rail system would mean for the Waterloo housing market Sarah Niedoba - BuzzNews Canada - April 5th, 2018 - Last week, Ontario’s Liberal government released its proposed budget for the next three years. One of t...

CTV News - Kitchener - Part of the proposed high-speed rail line along the Highway 401 corridor will undergo a sped-up environmental assessment process. Environmental assessments are mandatory for public infrastructure projects in Ontario. They often take years. When it comes to the province’s high-speed rail line, though, part of the assessment could be done in as little as six months. Transportation Minister Kathryn McGarry says the high-speed rail line will use existing rail tracks between Toronto and Waterloo Region, allowing for an expedited planning process. That won’t be the case past Waterloo Region, as at least part of the London portion of the route will require new tracks being laid over what is currently farmland. McGarry says the difference in EA processes won’t stop the line from being ready to run by 2025 with stops at Union Station in Toronto, Pearson International Airport, Guelph Central Station, the new transit hub in Kitchener and in London. An extension ...

Guest Post by Terry Johnson, Southwestern Ontario Transportation Alliance Ontario is moving forward with its much-needed project to halve journey times across Southwestern Ontario by bringing 250 km/h High Speed Rail to London and Windsor. However, the government has published a timetable suggesting that the earliest dates for implementation could be 2025 and 2031 respectively. This timetable appears to have more than doubled since the original announcement in London just before the 2014 election. Ontario needs to work to a more ambitious timetable that delivers meaningful improvements in travel times much sooner, and for more communities.  While 2031 doesn’t sound quite as futuristic as it once did, a few things will have happened by then. There will have been two full economic cycles and four elections, any one of which could derail the project. Fifteen more cohorts of students will have passed through our universities. Computers will be more than fifty times faster than ...

Guest Blog by Marc Lemieux Dear Mr. Langan: While I fully understand your concerns about the supposed benefits and pitfalls regarding Via Rail's HFR project, please be aware that passenger rail in Canada is at a critical juncture in our country's transportation infrastructure for the following reasons: 1 - Something has to be done as soon as possible in order to alleviate severe gridlock in Ontario. Via Rail's HFR project can be built fairly quickly and will consequently provide Canadians with a quicker, more affordable and more frequent passenger train service than is presently in place at this time. 2 - The on-going carnage in terms of human lives lost taking place on a daily basis on our highways must be reduced. Passenger train travel is the safest means of traveling. 3 - Once the first phase of Via Rail's HFR has been completed and subsequently used by Canadians, its benefits will be scrutinized and it will be determined that HFR is a success and a worthy...

Jennifer Beiman - London Free Press - ST. THOMAS - Even with election talk looming and campaign messages emerging, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown isn’t ready to commit to continuing a high-speed rail project that would link London to Toronto if his party wins next year. “I do think (high-speed rail) is valuable, I do think it’s a worthy goal and under this Liberal government it will never happen,” Brown said Tuesday at a campaign-style stop in St. Thomas. “What I will commit to is making sure that we actually get shovels in the ground, that we spend our infrastructure dollars wisely. . . . What I promise you is that we’ll get better value for infrastructure.” Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

London Free Press Article http://www.lfpress.com/2016/02/16/the-heat-is-on-to-get-a-high-speed-rail-proposal-for-southwestern-ontario-to-the-province-by-fall-just-as-london--the-regions-largest-city--tries-to-nail-down-its-own-rapid-transit-options

High Speed Rail Canada is releasing to the public the previously unreleased March 2014 high speed rail pre-feasibility by United Kingdom based independent transportation consultant First Class Partnerships (FCP) http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=13829 WireService.ca Press Release (12/10/2014) - High Speed Rail Canada is Canada's only advocacy groups dedicated to promoting the modernization of passenger rail in Canada. The March 2014 study by FCP was funded by the Ontario provincial government and examines the London-Kitchener-Toronto high speed rail route. Like the two previous Ontario high speed rail studies not released to the public,High Speed Rail Canada has once again obtained a copy of this new study and is releasing it today to the public before the official government release. High Speed Rail Canada's mandate is to educate people on the benefits of modern passenger rail. They do it through their website, Youtube channel, ...

High Speed Rail Canada is the only source in Canada to obtain all the information relating to high speed rail past and present studies on high speed rail. In October they released the previously unavailable  France national Railway SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français - National society of French railway) and partners on High Speed Rail Socio-Economic Study between Windsor and Quebec City. Now High Speed Rail Canada is going to release FCPWorld Toronto-Kitchener-London High Speed Rail Preliminary Business Plan Study that was completed for the Ministry of Transportation. The study will be released in early November 2014. Like all other studies it will be available on our Google drive link from our website. Then Transportation Minister Glen Murray stated in May 2014, " A proposed high-speed rail link between Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo and London would see 56 trains a day, or 28 each way, with fares around $40, according to Glen Murray, Ontario's Trans...

ST. THOMAS - He’ll still keep his red Liberal hat close by, but after last Thursday’s provincial vote in which he finished third in Elgin-Middlesex-London, he has donned his SWEA ball cap and is ready to go to bat for Southwestern Ontario. And a top priority likely will have him adding a classic, blue-striped engineer’s hat to his collection. As president of the Southwest Economic Alliance (SWEA) — a partnership of local governments, educators, and the public and private sector players whose mandate is to boost the region’s economy — he plans to get in the face of the Liberal government to live up to their promise of high-speed passenger rail service to London — what he calls a “game-changer” for the region. http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/2014/06/18/failed-liberal-candidate-serge-lavoie-vows-to-hold-liberals-to-promise-of-high-speed-rail

Here is our link to the presentation by Glen Murray on High Speed Rail for London,Kitchener, Toronto at Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/MurrayHighSpeedPresentation.pdf_201405