Tony hopes local local rail lobby will pay off

NEWS RELEASE

TONY MARTIN, MP

**************************** Rail lobby needs to stay united, Press Ontario, Ottawa

Martin optimistic attending CAPT’s rail summit today

SAULT STE. MARIE - (July 16) - On the heels of today’s $417-million federal government VIA Rail investment in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor, Sault MP Tony Martin attends the Algoma Rail Summit optimistic a united area rail lobby will pay dividends.

“The federal government is clearly investing in rail. Other provinces are. The meeting of key stakeholders held by the city Tuesday was an excellent way to keep everyone focused and united on our goal to keep the railway between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury open,” Martin said. “The economic and social costs of shutting it down are enormous. We need to come out of today’s rail summit organized by the Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains to lobby both Ontario and Ottawa for funding for area rail infrastructure.”

Martin recalled a similar investment by his Ontario New Democrat government in the early 1990s for Algoma Central Railway that saved the ACR.

A similar investment by Ontario and Ottawa can again secure a key role for the railway in Northern Ontario.

Martin is pleased First Nations communities and Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) management and union were invited to the rail summit.

Martin met in North Bay last month with the union who wants ONR to become the go-to railway for the north.

New Democrats are campaigning for a northern solution to keep and expand passenger and freight service linking industries to bigger markets.

“There are now on the table two northern railway options including ONR and First Nations. We have two challenges, to keep Huron Central going in the short term and to develop a longer term strategy that includes the possibility of passenger service (Sault/Sudbury) and enhanced passenger (Sault/Hearst).”

In mid-June, Huron Central Railway announced that it would terminate its lease with Canadian Pacific for operation of the rail line between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, ending service between Sault Ste. Marie and Espanola by August 15, with the portion between Espanola and Sudbury being terminated on October 31.

The Via Rail investment announcement made today is to upgrade tracks and increase train speed on the busy Quebec-Ontario southern corridor.

Ottawa has cut two deals with provinces on rail infrastructure investment: a $75-million deal to invest in short line railway in Quebec ($30 million federal, $20 million Quebec, $25 million private) and a $18-million agreement in New Brunswick, $9-million each between Ottawa and that province along with an undisclosed private sector contribution.

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