Canada can have a network of modern, swift, affordable and efficient passenger trains, like virtually every other industrialized nation. Yet it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, both the American and Canadian passenger train systems were taken over by their federal governments. Since then, Canada has slowly dismantled most of the VIA Rail system while Amtrak, the U.S. national train system, has been improved and stabilized. Amtrak\u2019s growing network of regional rail corridors has been especially remarkable.<\/p>\n
Greg Gormick, an analyst and policy adviser, has suggested that high-performance rail<\/a> (HPR) is the best means to improve and expand our skeletal network of deteriorating rail service. Canadian politicians and advocates at both federal and provincial levels have made calls for high-speed rail (HSR) like France\u2019s TGV<\/a> and Japan\u2019s bullet trains<\/a>.<\/p>\n High-speed rail operates on all-new electrified lines built from scratch at a very high cost because it operates on tracks with no grade-crossings and must be separated from freight. High-performance rail, in contrast, incrementally improves all aspects of the existing service and builds on what little public funds have already been invested in it. Operating at progressively higher speeds with modern trains on tracks shared with freight trains, high-performance rail offers increased frequency, reduced travel times, better on-time performance, all-weather reliability and enhanced comfort and onboard amenities.<\/p>\n High-performance rail delivers improvements each step along a phased pathway to vastly improved service. Because it isn\u2019t a \u201cbig bang\u201d approach that takes years to deliver any benefits, high-performance rail is a practical and affordable \u201chigher speed\u201d option for today that may lead the way to building the more costly high-speed rail in the future.<\/p>\n Canada has not participated in the global move to high-performance rail. This failure is largely due to government interference and lack of political will. Passenger rail the world over requires subsidies for operating costs and capital improvements, but Canadian governments have cut back VIA since its founding in 1977. The Mulroney cuts of 1989<\/a> eliminated most trains in Western Canada and Atlantic Canada, and removed passenger service from the historic and well-used transcontinental route over the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). These cuts were decided in the Privy Council Office, not by VIA. In other countries, it was government commitment as much as technology and funding that helped to develop the high-performance rail networks.<\/p>\n