Transport Action Canada

07/23/2026

A high speed rail stop in Kingston should be welcomed, but only if integrated with existing VIA Rail service, otherwise it risks both Alto and VIA.

If a stop were built in the current 'southern alignment' proposed by Alto, a 25-30 minute drive from Kingston, ridership for the stop would likely simultaneously not be enough to justify the cost and time penalty of stopping as well as enough to hamper ridership on existing corridor services, putting their future in jeopardy.

Read more about our letter to Minister MacKinnon here: https://buff.ly/4gOo7Ug

📸 Nelso Silva (altered) | cc BY-SA

06/22/2026

The federal government has announced that they are seriously considering adding a stop in Kingston to the Alto HSR project.

We are very pleased that the government seems to be listening to public and professional feedback. Building a new route that bypasses the majority of the population between Ottawa and Toronto would be foolish.

Any Kingston alignment considered should be well-situated to connect with the current VIA Rail corridor services so that the maximum possible benefits can be realised.

CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/alto-route-change-kingston-9.7244054

06/13/2026

Hurrah! 🎉 The Washington DOT has announced the opening of a pre-clearance facility for passengers at Vancouver's Pacific Central Station— a first ever in North America.

We hope to see governments on both sides of the border work together to continue to make travel quicker and easier for everyone.

Read more to learn how long this journey has been ⤵️
https://buff.ly/tKv00a0

📸 David Wilson, CC By-SA

06/08/2026

The International Union of Railways has released a report confirming what we have been saying for years: transferring revenue risk to the private sector simply doesn't work, and the public is left to eat the cost anyway.

The assignment of revenue risk to the private sector is one of the primary concerns that we have raised with the Alto high-speed rail project. Any private sector operator has zero influence over how many people will be living in, say, Peterborough by 2050— something that directly corresponds to ridership. Only government has the ability to properly forecast and control for transportation demand on such long horizons as is needed for large-scale infrastructure projects, therefore only government can reliably take on those risks.

Nevertheless, the private sector will always be happy to take public money (with a very high risk-premium attached), but ultimately it ends up being the public that has to both eat the premium and the cost of maintaining service when the model fails.

(Paywall) https://buff.ly/ne8fOvS

06/07/2026

Alberta has released its passenger rail masterplan.

While promising, the prospect of tangible progress seems to be waning as the province has announced what amounts to 3 more years of "engagement with industry" and planning.

Find it here: https://www.alberta.ca/passenger-rail

As always, stay tuned for our further analysis.

Alberta is developing a Passenger Rail Master Plan that will serve as the foundation to advance passenger rail in the province.

06/02/2026

Last week Transport Action Ontario President and Transport Action Canada director Peter Miasek was invited to be a part of a panel on Alto HSR at the Canadian Institute's Urban Transit Infrastructure Symposium in Toronto.

Peter shared an in-depth chronology of the project as well as our comments and ongoing concerns including:

- Alto needing to move faster to ease legitimate rural concerns. Global experience shows that impacts can be accommodated

- A large absence of information that was used in the decisions that have lead us to this particular project including ridership projections, corridor options, and a business case

- The absence of any information on why revnue-risk procurment approach was chosen.

- The risk of erosion of existing local services versus today's levels

He also flagged Canada's need for a strong and healthy VIA Rail today for a strong and healthy Alto tomorrow which can be realized by continuing to invest in improvements to existing corridors that benefit both passenger and freight operations.

05/29/2026

💭 Friday afternoon dreaming... If you could snap your fingers and make one improvement to public transportation in Canada, what would it be?

05/28/2026

While this is great to see, we must wonder why the public has had to wait until a project was completed to develop something that might have been planned from the get-go with a transit-builder that actually worked closely with the public sector. It's hard to measure the effects of public projects that are planned in such a myopic manor, but this is a clear example of what we miss out on.

To span at least 38 kilometres and link to existing bike paths and industrial parks and nature parks.

05/28/2026

We would like everyone to consider how much the public has benefitted since the privatization of CN in 1995:

Reduced passenger services? ✔️

Reduced freight capacity? ✔️

Greater private profit? ✔️

The federal government would be making a big mistake if they follow through on an idea to privatize Canada’s airports

05/27/2026

🎉 🚲️ Bikes are back on VIA Rail Canada!!

We love to see such a popular option brought back for travellers, though we're a bit disappointed that it took so long.

Bringing bikes back on board re-opens so many opportunities for passengers to explore their destinations or make their last-mile journeys.

Initial services allowing bikes are limited to select trains on the Quebec City-Ottawa corridor, but we hope to see the program expanded quickly so we can properly celebrate this win for passengers!

Read more from VIA here: https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-releases/2026/rail-reintroduces-board-bike-services-ottawa-quebec-corridor

📸 Jeangagnon Wikimedia