NORTH BAY, Ontario — In another step toward restoration of Northlander passenger service, Ontario Northland has released a proposed timetable for the train, expected to resume this year.
The timetable released in December calls for 10 hour, 40-minute service on the approximately 740-kilometer (460-mile) route between Toronto and Timmins, Ont. The trains will serve 13 intermediate stops. The northbound train will operate overnight, leaving Toronto at 6:30 p.m.; the southbound train will depart from Timmins at 12:15 a.m. Operation will be four to seven days per week, based on seasonal demand.
No start date has been set. Local news site Bay Today reports Ontario Northland CEO Chad Evans has said the start will depend on the delivery date of three trainsets ordered from Siemens in 2022 [see “Ontario government orders …,” Trains.com, Dec. 15, 2022]. Those are expected early this year and will undergo several months of testing before a launch date is announced. Ticket prices also have yet to be determined.
The original Northlander made its final run in September 2012, when it was replaced by bus service because of low ridership and high costs. The business case for the train’s reinstatement notes rail is more reliable than road transportation in Northern Ontario because of the challenges of relying on road transportation in Northern Ontario, whether highways are subject to frequent weather closures.
More on the planned service is available at the Ontario Northland website.
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
Ms. Benson is absolutely right that sleepers are needed–especially if the same essentially non-reclining seats used on the VIA Venture cars are also installed here. And it will be cold(!!) and scary to wait at the unmanned stations along this route for a train arriving deep into the night–even if on-time and potentially fatal in the winter.
And what became of the promised connecting service (train or bus) to Cochrane–where perhaps this schedule could remotely be explained by the need to connect to the “Polar Bear” service from Cochrane to Moosone. But still ONR could and should have done much better.
Is a middle of the night train “service” really what northern Ontario residents have pleaded for? I more than doubt that this is what they expected~
I really want to know what kind of study, if any, was done to come up with these times. Remembering that the Timmins station is on the outskirts of town, will there be any form of public transportation to and from the station at the proposed times? Is there a 24 hour taxi or ride share service? The Toronto times aren’t terrible, but an earlier arrival would provide more opportunities for flight/rail connections, medical appointments, activities, etc. An overnight train isn’t the worst idea, but I question the decision making on these specific times.
Quite the passenger-unfriendly timetable, especially for the intermediate stops.
With overnight service both ways they evidently have no interest in tourist traffic.
Given the latitude, much of the year the train will be running in the dark, so they as may as well paint the windows black…
One train a day is going to leave someone disappointed with the schedule. And someone else who likes it.
It was 1982 This was a train trip I took ‘cuz I was out for a ride. Easier ways to get home from Montreal to Detroit (via CNR Windsor Walkerville) but I wasn’t in a hurry.
I took the remote service from Montreal to Cochrane the long way around. (I’ll never forget the herd of chain smokers in the no-smoking car, loudly speaking a language that had nothing to do with French as I had learned it in high school.) Now the train dead-ends at Senneterre. In those days it connected at Cochrane to the Northland service. The connection at Cochrane was a few hours, giving me time to look for some food. This being Canada, there were two Chinese restaurants in the tiny downtown area, a hundred kilometers from anywhere else.
The Northlander was a modern, comfortable train with a good passenger count.
My point? Into the 1980’s, Canada had okay rail passenger service. They threw it away. I can’t count the number of trains I rode in Canada that went on to being discontinued or downgraded.
With overnight operations of the ‘Northlander’ proposed, there should be sleeping cars for comfortable sleep in bed as opposed to attempting to sleep partially upright in a coach seat. I am sure Siemens is capable of building sleeping cars.