{"id":159458,"date":"2024-08-20T11:42:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T15:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/rwddev\/?p=159458"},"modified":"2024-08-21T06:48:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T10:48:55","slug":"rail-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/rail-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Federally funded trains increasingly unreliable in Northern Ontario | Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ever been stood up one too many times by a friend or a date? Feel like they\u2019re just not getting the message that your needs aren\u2019t being met?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This regrettably summarizes the experience of travelling aboard VIA Rail in Northern Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between closed stations, chronically late trains and nearly no integration with local or regional transit providers, rail service in this region has become broken and dysfunctional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently on one of my return trips home from Thunder Bay, my partner and I drove three and a half hours \u2015 some 300 km \u2015 to the nearest station (Longlac<\/a>) so that I could catch the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do this because neither the Canadian<\/span><\/a> nor the Sudbury-White River<\/span><\/a> trains directly serve this rail-accessible city of 108,000 \u2015 the largest in the northwest. There are also no practical rail-bus connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheduled for 14:11, we ended up waiting five hours for its eventual arrival. At one point, I recommended that my girlfriend drive back home before it got dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indoor waiting facilities at Longlac have been closed for more than a decade. The signage, long faded.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Longlac Station platform<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no washrooms or benches to speak of. Instead, ticket holders wait outside; exposed to the elements and sounds of mosquitoes buzzing, while sitting on concrete slabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian’s on-time performance didn’t improve once I finally boarded. Engineers eventually ran out of hours they could legally work just before Hornepayne<\/span><\/a>, so passengers waited another hour for the arrival of a replacement crew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delays \u2015 usually freight train-related \u2015 aren\u2019t necessarily VIA\u2019s fault. The company, unlike its American counterpart Amtrak, doesn\u2019t have priority on railway tracks it doesn\u2019t own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, VIA no longer compensates remote service passengers with travel credits in the event of significant delays. They are offered exclusively to passengers within the Qu\u00e9bec-Windsor<\/span><\/a> corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, the Canadian\u2019s \u201cschedule\u201d should be considered as a suggestion rather than a reliable timetable. Real world travellers can\u2019t depend on it to arrive on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These issues were supposed to be resolved when the train’s schedule was lengthened in 2008<\/span><\/a>, again in 2018<\/span><\/a>, and when the frequency was reduced from three to two days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal Transport Minister (Pablo) Rodriguez, we need to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VIA Rail may very well be an independent Crown Corporation, but this is no way to operate a public transportation service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/span><\/a> co-produced by Metrolinx and Ontario Northland demonstrates a genuine need for alternatives to road-based travel in the region. The province acknowledges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n