Transport Action Canada supports Kingston high

Transport Action Canada, the national public transportation advocacy organization, is offering its support to the potential addition of a Kingston stop in the Alto high-speed rail project, but the organization says it also has a few “concerns.”

As reported in the Whig on June 22, Federal Transportation Minister Steve MacKinnon said during a media event at Queen’s University that the city’s lobbying efforts during the public consultation period succeeded in getting it considered for a station.

According to Transport Action Canada, while it remains optimistic about the project, its primary concern with the Kingston stop is with the integration of the proposed high-speed rail route, its close integration with the existing VIA Rail service, and the possibility of how far north a new station would need to be on the proposed path.

It’s something the project “would significantly harm” if a stop were built in the currently proposed southern alignment, which is about a 25-30 minute drive north of Kingston, the advocacy group said in a news release on Thursday.

Transport Action Canada also stated that, without better regulation and attention paid to the on-time performance of existing VIA rail services, communities along Lake Ontario will continue to feel left out of the project.

“It is quite hard to make a competitive connection when one service can regularly be expected to be 30-plus minutes late,” the group said in a news release.

After listening to “increasing public concern over the economic return on the project,” Transport Action said it believes that there are a few key measures that Alto must take to deliver a successful Toronto to Montreal project, including “close integration with and regulation of conventional VIA Rail services” to make sure that there is immediate access to the Montreal Trudeau airport, and future access to Toronto Pearson airport.

The group has also requested that the business case supporting high-speed rail, including the evaluation of alternatives such as maximizing the use of existing rail corridors, be released to the public.

In its news release, Transport Action Canada also highlighted that downtown stations are “crucial to the success of any high-speed rail project and should be guaranteed for the Alto project.”

“Concerns have stemmed from consultations held by Alto earlier this year that trains may not make it all the way downtown in Quebec City, Montreal, or Toronto,” the release said. This “would go directly counter to the appeal of rail-travel over high-emitting air travel.”

The group says while it broadly supportive of the project it hopes that the government will remain open to constructive input to deliver a much-needed service to Canadians.