Southwestern Ontario Transportation Alliance

Our Mission is to connect community groups, government stakeholders, and businesses working towards the integration and enhancement of rail, bus, and local transit services across Southwestern Ontario

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The Ghost Train Returns

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Saturday morning train from Windsor and Chatham to return on Halloween.

VIA Rail Canada is reinstating the early morning train from Windsor and Chatham to Toronto on Saturdays starting on October 31st. The early evening service from Toronto to Windsor on Fridays will also be reinstated, providing extra capacity at this peak travel time.

Both services had been suspended since 2012 as part of a series of austerity measures to cope with a cut to VIA Rail’s operating budget made by the previous federal government, with the train idling in London on Friday nights instead of continuing to Windsor. The restoration of these services was one of the low-cost measures to improve mobility options for local communities proposed in the Network Southwest report.

The restoration of the early morning train on a Saturday once again makes it possible for local families to visit Toronto for the day, without spending hours in highway traffic or staying overnight, to visit the Ontario Science Center, the Royal Ontario Museum, the new aquarium, or to attend major league sporting events.

Train #70 will leave Windsor at 05:30 and Chatham at 06:18, arriving in Toronto just after 10am, and the last train back from Toronto to Windsor leaves just after 7pm.

VIA Rail has also recently refreshed its onboard catering menu to include breakfast wraps and improved dinner options, and has been refurbishing coaches to improve the on-board experience. VIA Rail is also working on three crossing safety improvement projects in the Bothwell area that will reduce speed restrictions on the route, making journeys to London and Toronto faster.

Once fully implemented, the recommendations of the Network Southwest report would reduce journey times by thirty minutes, allowing train #70 to leave Windsor after 6am.

A train ticket to Toronto and back costs around $90 for adults and $50 for children. VIA Rail posts discounts to its website and Facebook page every Tuesday, and has offered deep discounts for families travelling in the summer holidays.

VIA Rail Promises More Trains for London

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VIA6404_20141204_LondonThe Southwestern Ontario Transportation Alliance, meeting in London on Thursday May 7, 2015, welcomed the promise of seven daily trains between London and Toronto by January 2016.

Speaking to the London Chamber of Commerce on April 28, VIA Rail President and CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano outlined plans to reroute the Sarnia-Toronto service through Brantford and to add an afternoon train in each direction between London and Toronto.

“Our vision for Southwestern Ontario is of an integrated transportation system with London as a hub, and we’re encouraged to find that VIA’s leadership is articulating a similar vision of a high performance network with reliable and frequent service,” said Southwestern Ontario Transportation Alliance President Terry Johnson.

“These promised additional services are a first step in the right direction, but on their own are not enough to reverse the damage done to our regional economy by past cuts to rail service and by lost intercity bus routes. We must keep up the pressure to ensure that the federal government invests in the resources VIA needs to execute this high performance strategy, and to replace 60-year-old equipment with modern, fully accessible trains.”

SWOTA’s Network Southwest public transportation action plan, presented to both provincial and federal politicians this spring, calls for seven daily trains on the London-Brantford-Toronto route, which would run through to Sarnia and Windsor as part of a package of measures that also includes connecting bus services to communities not on the rail network to restore vital public transport links between Southwestern Ontario communities.

Federal cuts to VIA Rail in 2011 led to a sharp reduction in services throughout the region, with Sarnia, St. Marys, Stratford, and Niagara Falls amongst the hardest hit.

Desjardins-Siciliano cited the need for better communication between the provincial federal governments as the main reason for the lack of good news regarding services to St. Marys and Stratford, while confirming that a multi-million dollar infrastructure investment to prepare the route for enhanced services will be completed this summer.

“For those communities to thrive, and to get the best value for the tax dollars already invested in infrastructure, we’ve got to get everyone to the table and find a way to bring those services back,” added Johnson.