M II A II R II K
Senior Member
Via targets private financing with eye toward speed upgrades
Sep. 14 2012
By RICHARD BLACKWELL
Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ith-eye-toward-speed-upgrades/article4544047/
Via Rail Canada Inc. wants to team up with private-sector investors to pay for expensive upgrades to passenger rail service in the key Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor – with ambitions to build a long dreamt of high-speed connection. Via chief executive officer Marc Laliberté said in an interview Thursday that if the Crown corporation can make progress in improving service on its key routes, it could attract private financing for new investments requiring deeper pockets.
Most of the high-speed rail expansion in Europe is now done through private-public partnerships, he said, and the same thing could happen in Canada. “This is something we need to look at.†But first, Via has to make enough improvements to show it can make money on its existing track, Mr. Laliberté said. After that foundation is in place, further upgrades to increase speeds – and perhaps dedicated high-speed tracks – could be considered. “If you can bring in a service that attracts a lot of customers and you can make it profitable, then private money could be [attracted to it],†Mr. Laliberté said.
Ideally, he said, the private sector funds would be used to “finance, design, build and maintain†new infrastructure, while “we can operate it.†He noted that big Canadian institutional investors, such as pension funds, seem very interested in ploughing more money into infrastructure projects, so a potentially profitable domestic rail service could glean their interest as well. Indeed, some large Canadian funds have already bought into high-speed rail projects in other countries. In 2010, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure – an arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System – paid $3.4-billion for the right to run High Speed One, the rail link from London, England, to the mouth of the channel tunnel. Currently, Via loses money on most of its services, although the busiest routes in the Windsor-to-Quebec corridor come closest to breaking even.
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Sep. 14 2012
By RICHARD BLACKWELL
Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ith-eye-toward-speed-upgrades/article4544047/
Via Rail Canada Inc. wants to team up with private-sector investors to pay for expensive upgrades to passenger rail service in the key Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor – with ambitions to build a long dreamt of high-speed connection. Via chief executive officer Marc Laliberté said in an interview Thursday that if the Crown corporation can make progress in improving service on its key routes, it could attract private financing for new investments requiring deeper pockets.
Most of the high-speed rail expansion in Europe is now done through private-public partnerships, he said, and the same thing could happen in Canada. “This is something we need to look at.†But first, Via has to make enough improvements to show it can make money on its existing track, Mr. Laliberté said. After that foundation is in place, further upgrades to increase speeds – and perhaps dedicated high-speed tracks – could be considered. “If you can bring in a service that attracts a lot of customers and you can make it profitable, then private money could be [attracted to it],†Mr. Laliberté said.
Ideally, he said, the private sector funds would be used to “finance, design, build and maintain†new infrastructure, while “we can operate it.†He noted that big Canadian institutional investors, such as pension funds, seem very interested in ploughing more money into infrastructure projects, so a potentially profitable domestic rail service could glean their interest as well. Indeed, some large Canadian funds have already bought into high-speed rail projects in other countries. In 2010, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure – an arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System – paid $3.4-billion for the right to run High Speed One, the rail link from London, England, to the mouth of the channel tunnel. Currently, Via loses money on most of its services, although the busiest routes in the Windsor-to-Quebec corridor come closest to breaking even.
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