TRANSPORT ACTION ONTARIO Advocating for Integrated Public Transportation across Ontario Box 858, Station “B” Ottawa, ON K1P 5P9 http://ontario.transportaction.ca September 8th 2020 Letter Cover The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, 180 Kent Street, Suite 1100 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 0B6 Email: [email protected] The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson Minister of Environment and Climate Change Fontaine Building 12th floor 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd Gatineau QC K1A 0H3 Email: [email protected] The Honourable Marc Garneau Minister of Transport House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Email: [email protected] c.c • SCOR-EDC • Provincial transportation ministers • VIA Rail Canada 1 TRANSPORT ACTION ONTARIO Advocating for Integrated Public Transportation across Ontario Box 858, Station “B” Ottawa, ON K1P 5P9 http://ontario.transportaction.ca September 8th 2020 Dear Ministers, Preserving Canada’s rail infrastructure. Canada does not abandon roads when they are seldom used and expensive for taxpayers to maintain. We continue to subsidize them without due regard to their economic value because they are there. The C.D. Howe Institute has calculated that the public subsidy directed at Canada’s highways exceeds 30% of their construction and maintenance costs net of all tax and fee revenues. However, the same cannot be said for railways, where line abandonment continues despite the obvious benefits for freight and people movement, congestion reduction, social equity and greenhouse gas reduction. Consequently, the need for detailed consideration of modal equity in infrastructure investment has never been greater. Given that Canada’s infrastructure ranks between 17th and 22nd in terms of global efficiency, it is obvious that we need to investigate all possible methods of improvement. Our current, active rail network is replete with private sector freight operators who measure their infrastructure efficiency based on shareholder returns, with scant, if any, direct consideration of the national interest. This also results in wholly inadequate intercity passenger rail services. Sweating transportation assets is not the same as transportation innovation and breadth; essential drivers of continued national prosperity. The abandonment of rail infrastructure, deemed without short-term commercial return, often represents the permanent loss of a potentially valuable public asset, as many countries have found. Most have right-of-way preservation strategies, whereas Canada does not. Our national freight railways have also abandoned routes for short-term business expediency only to rediscover their commercial importance as our economy evolves. Restoration and reinstatement of rail traffic on previously abandoned rights of way is extremely expensive when encroachment and changes in land use have occurred, which VIA Rail is discovering with its High Frequency Rail plan, demonstrating that preservation of the infrastructure or right-of-way is preferable to abandonment, encroachment or repurposing. 2 Private sector abandonment decisions fail to account for the cost externalizations of shifting traffic to road and air, loss of economic opportunity, and future needs. Addressing this mandates a different approach, one that supports long-term transportation planning by various levels of government. Canada badly needs a national strategy to protect rail infrastructure. This could include financial assistance as needed for operators/owners of secondary rail lines (short lines), as in the USA. It also should include the establishment of a national rail-banking scheme. While not every at-risk rail corridor is a candidate for banking by government, there are many across Canada requiring detailed evaluation of their future potential as a reinstated freight and passenger route. They vary from being strategically important from a national security standpoint, to being a low-carbon transportation mode offering a material contribution to the distributed complete-community concept, improved social equality, and national sustainability. Appropriate preservation measures for rail corridors can make their return from dormancy relatively inexpensive, and less intrusive than new rail routes or expanded/new highways. The closure, abandonment and repurposing of the Canada Southern route between Windsor and Fort Erie, for example, isolated many communities and businesses from rail services, deterred industrial investment, and requires continued, multi million dollar public expenditures on highway expansion to cope with displaced vehicular traffic, while adding significantly to CO2 emissions. Having eliminated a double-track corridor, CN now cites lack of capacity in southwestern Ontario to oppose the expansion of passenger rail frequencies to serve growing demand. Few, if any, competing nations would have allowed their citizens to bear such economic and social costs in the pursuit of private infrastructure profit. In eastern Canada, including northern Ontario, there is significant potential for overnight sleeper and cruise trains for high-end international tourists willing to pay more than $1,500 per person, per day for quality, reliable and safe services, providing revenues to support essential services for Canadians. VIA’s “Ocean” overnight train between Montreal and Halifax has untapped potential should the equipment and infrastructure be up to the task, which it currently is not. The loss of VIA’s “Bras D’Or” between Halifax and Sydney happened at a time when international rail tourism was ascending and remains an example of potential lost economic opportunity should the Cape Breton Railway be dismantled. This also applies to the northern “loop” in Ontario which remains functional but very much at-risk. The current situation, where the Huron Central Railway between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury may be wound down by year end unless financial assistance from the federal or provincial governments is provided, is a poster child case for rail preservation. Key industries such as Algoma Steel and Domtar are imperilled. Attached to this letter is a list of railway segments that Transport Action Ontario and Transport Action Canada’s other regional affiliates believe should be protected in the interest 3 of economic development, job permanence, social inclusion and climate change mitigation. Selected corridors are also shovel-ready candidates for near-term investment or reactivation to transform regional economic fortunes or bolster national network resilience. To this end Transport Action Canada has recommended a Strategic Rail Infrastructure Fund be created as a stream within the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program in their pre-budget submission for 2021. Provincial involvement will be constructive when commuter services are both possible and desirable on selected routes. However, the federal government must shoulder its constitutional responsibility to lead rail infrastructure policy. We also believe that both senior levels of government need to introduce a means to analyze rail corridors in terms of future need prior to allowing repurposing and final loss. The current asset divestment process of unprofitable rail lines does not adequately consider future personal mobility needs, climate change mitigation and other environmental considerations. It requires overhaul and more robust and visionary dialog with all stakeholders including potentially affected municipalities. We would be pleased to engage with you on this critical issue at this time when alternative thinking and best practice are essential to the quality of life for all Canadians. Yours truly, Peter Miasek Ken Westcar Peter Miasek Ken Westcar President, Transport Action Ontario Board Member, Transport Action Ontario 4 Abandoned and at-risk rail infrastructure preservation Province: BC Route Status Action Future Purpose Victoria – Courtney Limited service in Nanaimo area Repair entire line for 80kph Commuter/freight/tourism (Vancouver Island Rly) operation 145miles Squamish – Williams Lake – Inactive Repair entire line for 80kph Freight/tourism Prince George Operator: CN operation Poss. Alaska link 1441miles Grand Forks-Laurier Active up for abandonment Preserve route Freight continuation (Kettle Falls Int’l Rly) Operator: Omnitrax 70miles (approx.) 5 Abandoned and at-risk rail infrastructure preservation Province: Maritimes/QC Route Status Action Future Purpose Montmorency Falls Active Preserve and extend to Quebec Tourism/commuter – La Malbaie Operator: Train de Charlevoix City 100miles Connect with VIA Montreal -Gaspe Under repair. Complete to TC Speeds should align with track Tourism/personal travel/freight 647miles class 3 or higher in partnership classes 3 (65kph freight, 100kph with the Province of Quebec passenger) and 4 (100kph freight, 125kph passenger) Halifax – Sydney Truro, NS to Sydney at risk Repair and upgrade entire route Freight (containers)/tourism (Cape Breton & Central Nova Rly) Inactive from Port Hawkesbury- for 80kph operation (cruise industry)/personal travel 245miles Sydney New passenger equipment Montreal-Sherbrooke Not at-risk but limited to 40kph. Upgrade to class 3 and reserve Improve freight carrier Central Maine and Quebec (CP) stations and infrastructure for capacity/passengers 77 miles future passenger service Halifax – Montreal Newcastle Subdivision between Repair and upgrade entire route Personal travel/ Moncton (Pacific Junction) and Pacific Junction and Campbellton for 110kph passenger, 80kph freight/tourism