Struggle to save Cape Breton line continues

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A vivid sunset over a rail yard, with orange locomotives visible next to a shed, and industrial buildings in the distance.
The sun sets on the CBNS yard in Sydney, a few months before rail service on the line came to a halt. Let’s hope the sun hasn’t set on the rail line for good. Photo: Tim Hayman

The celebrated Orangedale whistle has been silent for nearly eight months, and the rails across Cape Breton from St. Peter’s Junction to Sydney lie rusty and unused.  But optimism remains high that the 100 miles of track may yet be saved for future use.

The Minister’s Rail Advisory Committee – a group representing rail users, municipalities and the business community in general – was scheduled to meet on July 30 to hear the outcome of three reports commissioned by provincial Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan.  Consultants were to examine the long-term implications of rail service in Cape Breton, and the economics of rail versus highway transportation.  An engineering study on the state of the long-neglected infrastructure was also included.

David Rae – dean of the Shannon School of Business at Cape Breton University and chair of the Scotia Rail Development Society – has been one of the prime movers behind the rail retention campaign.  He’s leaving CBU at the end of the summer to return to the UK, but promises that he’s still going to be very much involved.  Finding a successor to maintain the momentum behind the effort was one of the agenda items for a July 28th meeting in Sydney.

Dr. Rae remains optimistic that a solution will be found, and insists that rail is very important to Cape Breton’s future.  He points to the potential intermodal traffic that could and should be moving by rail – relieving pressure on the already overburdened highway network and enhancing road safety for all users.  He notes that the reopening of the Donkin coal mine will create a renewed need for trains, and adds that the port of Sydney really hasn’t much of a future without a rail link. Continue reading “Struggle to save Cape Breton line continues” →

Air Canada Flight 624: TSB delivers preliminary investigation report

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Airbus A320-200 C-FTJP sitting in daylight on a snow covered runway. Its nose cone and landing gear are missing, and there is significant damage to the wings and underbody of the aircraft. Several TSB investigative vehicles are seen to the left of the aircraft.
The A320-200 aircraft of Air Canada Flight 624 sits on the runway at YHZ, as the TSB investigation gets underway (Photo credit: Transportation Safety Board)

On March 29, 2015, what should have been a routine flight from Toronto to Halifax became a harrowing ordeal for the 133 passengers and five crew members on board, as the plane made a “hard landing” at the Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) in the midst of a severe winter storm. Despite significant damage to the aircraft, all passengers and crew survived the crash, though 25 people were treated for injuries and no doubt many of the passengers suffered psychological trauma from the event. Now four months after the incident, many questions remain about just what exactly happened on that evening.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is investigating the incident, and on June 16, 2015, released a report on the preliminary findings of their investigation. This preliminary report does not yet identify what exactly caused the incident, nor does it assign blame to the crew, the plane, or any other specific combination of factors. It does, however, offer the first details about the final moments of that flight.

As it prepared to land, the aircraft (C-FTJP, an Airbus A320-200) was using a localizer approach to land on runway 5 at YHZ. A localizer approach only provides a pilot with lateral guidance to align their aircraft with the runway; this is less sophisticated than an Instrument Landing System (ILS), which provides precision lateral and vertical guidance to an approaching aircraft. Two of the runways at the Halifax airport have these more advanced systems, but runway 5 does not. As such, the pilots of AC624 were reliant on on-board systems for their vertical position as they prepared for landing. A number of people have called for upgrades to the landing systems at YHZ in the wake of this incident, including former pilots and other aviation experts, who have emphasized that ILS should be standard on all runways at an airport with the type of fog and snow conditions that YHZ receives. Continue reading “Air Canada Flight 624: TSB delivers preliminary investigation report” →

WestJet spreads its wings – Encore

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Bombardier Q400 flying
WestJet Encore’s new Bombardier Q400 aircraft will soon become a familiar sight across Atlantic Canada.

Canada’s second largest airline is expanding its presence in the Atlantic region significantly in 2015. WestJet’s short-haul subsidiary – branded Encore – will make its first down east appearance in Fredericton in mid-April, and the new Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft will begin serving Halifax, St. John’s, Moncton, Gander, Deer Lake and Sydney later this spring and summer.  In fact, by July 15 the number of daily WestJet departures from Halifax Stanfield International Airport will have increased from 12 to 19 – a jump of more than 50 percent.

The corporate name might be a little off the mark in the contemporary context, because their routes are certainly no longer concentrated in western Canada, and neither is the fleet comprised exclusively of those familiar Boeing 737 jets.  Robert Palmer, the airline’s public relations manager, acknowledges that one of the secrets to WestJet’s early success was the economics of operating a single aircraft type.

“The problem was, however, that with the bigger jets you eventually run out of places to fly,” he said.  Hence the decision to introduce the smaller and more nimble 78-seat Q400, which has opened up a lot of new markets that were considered too small to be economically served by the 737.  One of the airline’s key objectives for this year was to extend their Encore service from coast to coast, and the new regional routes in Atlantic Canada are fulfilling that plan.

In addition to the twice-daily service between Fredericton and Toronto starting April 15, there will be once-a-day year-round flights to and from Halifax serving Sydney, Deer Lake, and Gander. (Gander will also be getting daily seasonal 737 service to and from Toronto, starting on May 3.) Existing jet service out of Halifax to Toronto, St. John’s and Ottawa will be augmented by Encore flights, and there will also be a new daily return flight between Moncton and Ottawa using the Q400 aircraft.  Most of the new Encore services will launch on July 15.

Atlantic Canadians should be able to enjoy lower fares as well as increased service as a result of these WestJet initiatives.  Mr. Palmer says past experience indicates a typical reduction of about 30 percent in the cost of flying when a new competitor enters a market previously served by only one carrier.  Furthermore, he says, WestJet guests will find the Q400 to be an exceptionally quiet and comfortable aircraft.

Meanwhile, building on the success of last year’s initial foray into trans-Atlantic service, WestJet will inaugurate its new seasonal daily flights between Halifax and Glasgow on May 29.  The 737-700 aircraft assigned to this route has 136 seats.  The St. John’s-Dublin flight – which Mr. Palmer describes as the most successful new service in the airline’s history – will be back this year with a longer six-month operating season beginning on May 1.  Overall load factor last season on that route was better than 90 percent, an achievement the airline spokesman described as “quite extraordinary.”