Is Canada failing to build a passenger train network?

Yes, I know we have a passenger rail network in this country. But is it failing Canadians?

In Metro Vancouver there is the West Coast Express, operated by Translink. It operates 5 westbound trains to Vancouver in the morning and 5 eastbound trains to Mission in the afternoon.

In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) there is GO Transit. 7 train lines, Lakeshore East, from Durham College Oshawa GO. Lakeshore West from one of Niagara Falls, West Harbour, Hamilton or Aldershot. Kitchener Line from Kitchener. Barrie Line, from Barrie. Richmond Hill line, from Bloomington GO. Stouffville line from Old Elm station and the Milton Line from Milton. All lines operate to Union Station in downtown Toronto.

The Milton and Richmond Hill lines only operate peak directionally and the other lines run 7 days a week. Although the Kitchener line only operates to Mount Pleasant on weekends, and some trips during the weekdays. Barrie line has limited service all the way to Barrie outside rush hours, however it does run trips to Aurora. Stouffville line trains also only operate to Mount Joy at certain times of the day.

In the greater Montreal area, they have the EXO train lines. 5 lines that operate Monday to Friday and only 2 or 3 on the weekends but with extremely limited service. The Vaudreuil/Hudson line, Saint-Jérôme line, and the Candiac line operate from Lucien-L’Allier station. Mont-Saint-Hilaire line and the Mascouche line operate from Centrale station.

The only place where there is constantly upgrades to the train service is the GTA. They have plans to operate 5 lines 7 days a week and running as often as every 15 minutes. Recently there was an announcement of funding for improvements to the Milton line, so it can operate all day every day.

Also, in the GTA there is the UP Express train that operates every 15 minutes from 5am until 1am from Union Station to Pearson Airport.

So I asked at the beginning is Canada failing to build passenger rail and the answer for sure is yes. News articles recently came out, discussing the future of Via Rail service. The reports stated that funding is needed to replace a very aging fleet. Most of the cars used outside of the Windsor-Quebec Corridor were built in the 1940’s and ’50’s.

In the last few years, 25 out of 200 trains were taken out of service. Many parts are no longer sold and have to be made from scratch. It will likely cost several billion dollars and Via says the process needs to start this year. The trains won’t last past 2035.

That is where we are failing in Canada. Sure I get that there is a large part of the country that is not very well populated, however, there still needs to be better train service connecting smaller or indigenious communities with larger cities. Currently the Canadian train, that operates from Vancouver to Toronto takes 4 days and runs twice a week.

Many years ago there used to be 2 routes operating from Vancouver to Ontario running 5-7 times a week. One route that operated from Montreal to Ottawa, and then to Vancouver and the other running Toronto to Vancouver. Both trains used to leave Winnipeg and one would operate via Regina, Calgary, Banff and Kamloops and down to Vancouver, while the other train would operate the same routing it currently runs now. Traveling from Winnipeg to Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper and down to Kamloops and Vancouver. In Winnipeg, passengers could transfer between routes to get to where they were going. There was also a connection to the train heading to Churchill that would meet these trains.

Also over the years trains operating through the Atlantic provinces have been reduced. Currently there is only one train, the Ocean, operating from Montreal to Halifax. There also used to be a route that served most of Nova Scotia. Now there isn’t even train tracks in some parts of the province. So that train cannot even operate unless more tracks get built.

In Alberta there have been talks over the years to operate a fast train service connecting Calgary to Red Deer and Edmonton. In my opinion there should also be branches of that service. A good train network in Alberta would see, trains going from Lethbridge to Calgary. Trains from Edmonton going to Fort McMurray and an Edmonton to Grand Prairie service. I would also prefer seeing a train line that operated from Winnipeg, through to Calgary. It would help connect the smaller towns along the way to larger cities, such as Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. It would also provide a connection to the Canadian, so people could continue further East. These types of connections are very necessary over the years, especially as populations grow, even in the smaller cities. It will hopefully help to reduce traffic congestion, and it is a good alternative to driving in the winter.

By building and improving passenger train travel in Canada it can help reduce traffic congestion. It can help build communities, and make it better for the economy. It allows people to travel to jobs further away, if people don’t drive. For example the train service between Calgary and Edmonton could run hourly service and it can allow people to travel to jobs between the three cities it will serve as well as some smaller towns along the way. Building a train line in Nova Scotia could allow people living in Sydney to travel to Halifax for work, or school easier than driving or bussing. Trains operating on smaller routes could be trains similar to what is used on the West Coast Express, EXO or GO Transit.

Speaking of the West Coast Express, the service launched in 1995 and there has been no expansion or service increases at all. When it first started I remember hearing that the train was going to be the start of a train network. I still would like to see more trains operating, potentially out to Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Another train to Whistler. Plus all day two way service on the lines.

The problem currently with passenger trains is a lot of the tracks are owned by freight companies, and freight is generally a priority for them. On the Canadian, some of the freight trains are so long that the much shorter VIA train has to sit in the siding track and wait for the freight trains to go by. Sometimes the VIA train sits for 2 or 3 hours waiting for freight trains to pass.

Currently there is no funding plans to build more tracks, and without building more tracks the passenger trains will continue to suffer. There still needs to be new train cars ordered as well, but without more tracks built, the new cars won’t do much to improve service. Now is the time the Government needs to step up and build more tracks and buy new cars, as well as commit to expanding and building new train service in different parts of the country.