(The following report appeared on The Chronicle-Journal website on March 17.)
THUNDER BAY — Via Rail may be coming back to Thunder Bay.
Officials with the rail line said they’ll be talking with CP Rail representatives in an attempt to work out a deal that would see Via use CP’s south line, which runs through Thunder Bay, for passenger service.
The move stems from a meeting between Via and Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff on Monday.
“It was a very positive meeting,” Via spokesman Malcolm Andrews said Wednesday.
He said Via will be talking to CP about the availability of track and the cost of using it for passenger service.
There’s no timeline in place, Andrews said.
Boshcoff said he’ll continue to work on the issue as long as there is public interest in it.
Via passenger trains stopped in Thunder Bay in 1990, Andrews said when Via consolidated its operations, and decided to scrap the service along the southern line, but keep it going along CN’s northern line, which reaches remote communties.
The reason for the decision, he said, was that part of Via’s mandate is to provide transportation services to communities that may not be able to access other modes of transportation, such as roads, throughout much of the year.
The southern line, he said, runs more-or-less parallel with the Trans-Canada Highway, and as such doesn’t run through remote communities.
A CP official didn’t have any further information on the matter Wednesday, but said he’d look into it.