Intercity Passenger Rail

VIA Rail Canada, the national passenger railway, serves over 450 communities across 14,000 kilometres of rail network. In 2009, intercity passenger service carried 4.54 million passengers; the number of intercity rail passengers has grown 15 per cent since 1999 . In October 2007, the federal government announced a new five-year $516 million capital funding package for VIA Rail and another $407 million in 2009. The total capital funding package, $923 million is being allocated for infrastructure improvements, equipment refurbishments, stations, facilities, and information technology projects. This much-needed investment is welcomed; however, government support accorded to intercity passenger rail in other G-8 countries dwarfs what is currently spent on the operating and capital budgets of VIA Rail.

There are opportunities to increase ridership on VIA in certain corridors, such as the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, particularly the Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto triangle, and further investments will be required to reduce transit times to make key routes more attractive and commercially viable.