(The following column by Martin Wooldridge appeared on the The Leader-Post website on August 11. Wooldridge is president of Transport 2000 Prairie.)
REGINA — Transport 2000 Prairie represents Canadians living in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan who are deeply concerned about the future of intercity passenger and freight rail transportation in our region.
We worry about derailments and other rail safety issues, rail capacity limits, branch line deterioration and abandonment.
We have identified suggestions for both the reform of VIA Rail and providing a stable source of funding.
VIA’s status as a Crown corporation created by order-in-council and its dependence on year-to-year appropriations from Parliament has prevented it from making and implementing plans and investments, including private financing and partnerships that would boost ridership and revenues, gain efficiencies and reduce costs.
There is no place at present in VIA’s structure for provincial or private participation in its financing or operations.
The state of Washington supports a daily Amtrak train from Seattle to Vancouver. The province of British Columbia, in a groundbreaking move, announced it is investing $4.5 million to enable a second Seattle-Vancouver train in time for the 2010 Olympics.
There are diverse examples of private participation in publicly supported passenger rail services. An example in Alaska sees cruise ship lines partnering with the state-owned Alaska Railroad.
We recommend: (a) Creating a new VIA Rail Act that provides for provincial partnership and private participation; (b) Fully funding VIA’s $808-million four-year corporate plan, presented to the House of Commons in July 2005, plus money to enable VIA Rail to comply with the Supreme Court of Canada decision requiring it to make the Renaissance fleet accessible, and; (c) Dedicating a portion of federal gas tax revenues to intercity rail operating and capital expenses: VIA, plus Ontario Northland, and other intercity rail operations including cross-border Amtrak services.
These moves would enable a more efficient, effective and more popular passenger rail service. It would permit daily VIA operation through the Rockies and reinstatement of Vancouver-Calgary-Regina-Winnipeg service.
Additionally, we suggest the more investment in rail infrastructure in rail safety.
Additionally, there is a general infrastructure and safety crisis in Canada. CN has suffered at least one major derailment every month since the beginning of 2007. CN has long argued that its safety record is the best in the industry. If this is the case, then the entire industry has some work to do to overcome a disturbing trend of insufficient investment and deferred maintenance.
The solution is a balanced blend of incentives and enforcements, recognizing the fact that, unlike trucking and shipping companies and airlines, railways must finance the construction and upkeep of their infrastructure directly from earnings and from investors.
However, community railway ownership is starting to roll in Canada. The largest, most prominent example is the Island Corridor Foundation on Vancouver Island.
In Saskatchewan, members of Transport 2000 Prairie are involved with a similar project to save and revitalize CN’s Craik subdivision between Regina and Saskatoon as a “green corridor” with real potential, as we face a rapidly changing environment.