Transport Action urges passenger rail investment

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passengers boarding VIA Rail train at Moncton

With the federal cabinet meeting today in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Transport Action Canada and its regional affiliates are calling on the new government to give priority consideration to renewal of passenger rail across the country. Infrastructure investment in rail corridors and equipment is entirely consistent with both Prime Minister Trudeau’s economic and environmental agendas, says Ted Bartlett, president of Transport Action Atlantic.

The advocacy group’s 10-year vision was presented to Minister Marc Garneau within days of his appointment to the Transport portfolio last November. The VIA 1-4-10 Plan called for a sweeping review of passenger rail from coast to coast, and timely action to bring this country in step with the other nations in the G7 community – all of which have far more robust and functional train service than Canada. Continue reading “Transport Action urges passenger rail investment” →

Riverview holding off on Codiac Transpo expansion

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A Codiac Transpo city bus sits at the curb awaiting passengers, while running on the Route 52 "Blue Line"

A proposed expansion of Codiac Transpo service in Riverview has been put on hold due to budget constraints and other spending priorities. Riverview had been looking at an overhaul of its transit system for 2016, but town council decided at a meeting last Saturday to defer the plan for now in favour of other priorities.

Councillors were quick to suggest that the delay will allow the town to better evaluate how to improve services, with Moncton Councillor and chair of Codiac Transpo’s governance committee Charles Leger saying the town’s move was “an opportunity for Riverview to get it right.”

 

More on this story at CBC News.

You can also listen to Charles Leger’s comments from CBC Information Morning Moncton here.

 

Codiac Transpo is the operating name for the City of Moncton’s Department of Public Transit, and serves a population of 130,000 people in the communities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview. The service carries roughty 2 million riders each year.

A glimmer of hope for Cape Breton rail?

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An orange and yellow train with bright headlights heads directly towards the viewer under cloudy fall skies.
Could the CBNS run to Sydney once again? (Photo by Tim Hayman)

Just as the date approaches that the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) Railway can apply to abandon the Sydney Subdivision, there’s a little glimmer of hope that the line might not be quite dead yet. On November 19th, Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP) and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) issued a press release announcing that they are in discussions with CBNS to provide rail service for any future port developments in Sydney.

The HPDP was established to develop and market a deep water container port in Sydney, along with an adjacent logistics park. HPDP was also charged by CBRM with assembling a consortium of marine and financial service partners to realize this project. For such a project to be a success, securing suitable transportation options is an important step: hence the decision to reach out to the CBNS. There’s no doubt that a rail link would be extremely valuable for this sort of project.

Continue reading “A glimmer of hope for Cape Breton rail?” →