The ‘Canadian’ pauses at Collins, Ontario, in October 2018. Bob Johnston HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – An extraordinary five-part package of reports provides the most detailed examination yet of how Canadian National’s erratic handling of VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian has damaged the train’s ability to provide meaningful transportation across Canada. The reports were prepared by University […]
IRVINE, Alberta — Residents near the community of Irvine were evacuated Friday, and a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway was closed, as the result of a Canadian Pacific derailment. The derailment of about 20 cars near the community of 300, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) east of Medicine Hat, Alta., occurred about 3:20 p.m., the […]
TORONTO — The government of Ontario is exploring the possibility of selling naming rights to stations, parking lots, and even restrooms on the GO Transit system to increase income for Metrolinx, the province’s transit operator. Globalnews.ca reports that Transportation Minister Carolina Mulroney announced the concept Thursday, saying it could help keep fares low. Government estimates […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — More than a year after its original handoff date, the consortium building Ottawa’s Confederation Line light rail project says, for the second time, that the line is “essentially complete” and ready to hand over for operation. The notice from the Rideau Transportation Group means the city has five days to provide its […]
The logo for Montreal’s new light rail system. MONTREAL — Canada’s federal government will fund a feasibility study on the possibility of connecting Montreal’s future light-rail system to an existing commuter-rail station in Dorval, near the city’s airport. Transportation Minister Marc Garneau announced the $2 million study Friday at groundbreaking ceremonies for the light rail […]
SARNIA, Ontario — Canadian National is nearing the completion of cleanup for last week’s derailment in the St. Clair River tunnel between Sarnia and Port Huron, Mich. The CBC reports that as of midday Thursday, 38 cars and one locomotive had been removed and just nine cars remained in the tunnel, and about 1,000 gallons […]
TORONTO — VIA Rail Canada’s plan to cobble together a new Toronto-Montreal-Quebec City passenger corridor from abandoned, lightly used, and new rail lines inched closer to reality last week with the approval of $71 million in funding for further studies. But it raises a question: Why spend more than $4 billion to build a new […]
PORT HURON, Mich. — Cleanup continues after a Friday derailment in the St. Clair River tunnel connecting the U.S. and Canada, which resulted in a spill of more than 13,000 gallons of sulfuric acid. The Port Huron Times Herald reported Saturday afternoon crews were preparing to pump out the spilled acid after removing other cars […]
MONTREAL — The Government of Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank, an “arm’s length” Crown corporation formed to fund big transportation projects, announced Tuesday that they will help finance an exploration of VIA Rail Canada’s proposed separate rail line in the Quebec City-Toronto Corridor. The government and infrastructure bank will commit C$71.1 million ($54 million […]
Local opposition is mounting to a $250 million intermodal terminal Canadian National aims to build outside Toronto to handle a rising tide of consumer goods imported from Asia. The terminal, planned for Milton, Ontario, just west of Toronto, received a frosty reception this week at the first of several government hearings that are part of […]
New York Central 4-6-0 No. 1290, a July 1900 product of the Michigan Central’s St. Thomas, Ontario, shops, works west on Ontario’s St. Clair Subdivision. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
The westbound Canadian is 68 minutes early as it arrives in Kamloops, B.C., on May 11, 2019. Russ Grycan VANCOUVER, British Columbia — VIA Rail Canada’s revised schedule for its trancontinental Canadian is meeting with mixed success. In lengthening and adjusting the schedule at the end of April [see “VIA’s summer shuffle,” July TRAINS], VIA […]
