Leaders from around the region are calling for major investments in high performance rail across the southwestern Ontario corridor. “If you look at our Asian partners, our European partners, who have figured out the rail system and use it so well. Where we have been in a road system that obviously is getting worse every single year. We have to make some kind of investments,” said Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione. He’s part of the group ‘Southwestern Ontario for High Performance Rail.’ Made up of civic leaders, economic development, and tourism officials, as well as college and university representatives, the group is calling on the federal and provincial governments to invest in high performance rail. High performance rail differs from high-speed rail, in that instead of focusing on faster trains, it aims to create a regional, integrated network with more frequent service between communities. “We know that there are international companies that are looking to relocate to regions that have that kind of integrated mobility networks,” said Tyler Sutton, London’s manager of intergovernmental relations. “We’re pitching this as another nation-building project, that will do significant things for us here in southwestern Ontario.” Sarnia’s Mike Bradley is not part of the high-performance rail group. But the long-time mayor has advocated for better VIA passenger service for decades. He says he supports the initiative but points out a major snag in the plan. “CN controls the tracks. And as long as they control the tracks, and we have examples in Sarnia all the time- passenger train service is delayed significantly and makes it unreliable for people to use. Until those changes, nothing substantial will happen as it relates to reliability,” he said. Sutton says the group is proposing to extend the sidings along the corridor track. “That would allow, more often, CN trains to pull over and allow VIA passenger rail to move through,” he explained. There’s also a call for restoration of passenger rail service between Windsor and Detroit. It would include a Canada-U.S. port of entry at Windsor, connecting to Detroit and Chicago. This would give passengers access to the Amtrak network in the U.S.
