crs1026
Superstar
^For a little more detail on what was said to Kingston, one can watch the City's Council discuss the VIA proposal in their meeting on 8 August 2017 (yes, that long ago). The Council discussion starts at about 1:17:30 here.
Kingston's Mayor submitted a motion to Council which was unanimously supported. The Mayor's presentation in support of his motion was verbal, drawing from their meeting with the VIA CEO. No paper exhibits were put before Council and the entire discussion was verbal. The questions from Councillors were thoughtful and on point with what has been discussed here. The one point that the Mayor made which we haven't heard elsewhere is that he was confident that trip times would not be lengthened after this change.
Kingston's support was simply a letter to be included in the VIA submission to government. It was an ask of a secondary element in an HFR proposal that is still unclear four years later,
The hub style service plan, which has been said unofficially to amount to 12 trains each way between Kingston and Toronto, is unquestionably a better plan for service to the Lakeshore. The addition of the layover trains giving better early morning/late evening options will draw ridership and may prove to be among the most popular trains in this service. A frequency of 12 daily trains is quite attractive for this route. So in principle it's an easy thing to support.
My concern remains whether this is a sincere, credible path forward - or simply vapourware. The proposal gives little credence to a) just how badly Ottawa wants to extricate itself from subsidising rail passenger and b) how CN is likely to treat the service once throught T-O-M passengers aren't impacted by indifferent operations. The Kingston Hub assumes both willingness to subsidise and willingness to operate - the two things HFR is promising to eliminate. The lack of documented detail even to the City Council speaks to how flimsy the assurance VIA gave really was (and is).
I may be living in the past but I remember how VIA service looked to London in 1983. Nothing in the regulatory framework, the funding framework, or VIA's legal mandate has changed since then. The London comparison may be ancient but is quite appropriate .... if VIA is this interested in a 12-train service for the Lakeshore route, then where is its interest and explicit promotion of comparable service vision for west of Toronto, which is an even more populous route with more potential? The Kingston plan may well just be bait and switch.
The Mayor's recent statement on Youtube attracted some interesting and somewhat snarky commentary. Sadly, I'm afraid those grumps were very much on point..
I guess time will tell. I really do hope to be proven wrong.
- Paul
Kingston's Mayor submitted a motion to Council which was unanimously supported. The Mayor's presentation in support of his motion was verbal, drawing from their meeting with the VIA CEO. No paper exhibits were put before Council and the entire discussion was verbal. The questions from Councillors were thoughtful and on point with what has been discussed here. The one point that the Mayor made which we haven't heard elsewhere is that he was confident that trip times would not be lengthened after this change.
Kingston's support was simply a letter to be included in the VIA submission to government. It was an ask of a secondary element in an HFR proposal that is still unclear four years later,
The hub style service plan, which has been said unofficially to amount to 12 trains each way between Kingston and Toronto, is unquestionably a better plan for service to the Lakeshore. The addition of the layover trains giving better early morning/late evening options will draw ridership and may prove to be among the most popular trains in this service. A frequency of 12 daily trains is quite attractive for this route. So in principle it's an easy thing to support.
My concern remains whether this is a sincere, credible path forward - or simply vapourware. The proposal gives little credence to a) just how badly Ottawa wants to extricate itself from subsidising rail passenger and b) how CN is likely to treat the service once throught T-O-M passengers aren't impacted by indifferent operations. The Kingston Hub assumes both willingness to subsidise and willingness to operate - the two things HFR is promising to eliminate. The lack of documented detail even to the City Council speaks to how flimsy the assurance VIA gave really was (and is).
I may be living in the past but I remember how VIA service looked to London in 1983. Nothing in the regulatory framework, the funding framework, or VIA's legal mandate has changed since then. The London comparison may be ancient but is quite appropriate .... if VIA is this interested in a 12-train service for the Lakeshore route, then where is its interest and explicit promotion of comparable service vision for west of Toronto, which is an even more populous route with more potential? The Kingston plan may well just be bait and switch.
The Mayor's recent statement on Youtube attracted some interesting and somewhat snarky commentary. Sadly, I'm afraid those grumps were very much on point..
I guess time will tell. I really do hope to be proven wrong.
- Paul
