{"id":40220,"date":"2020-12-17T16:08:45","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T21:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=40220"},"modified":"2021-01-12T11:34:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T16:34:52","slug":"politics-the-choo-choos-murderer-could-be-its-saviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/17\/politics-the-choo-choos-murderer-could-be-its-saviour\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics. The choo choo’s murderer could be its saviour…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The recent performance by VIA Rail\u2019s Canadian between Vancouver and Winnipeg \u2013 but not between Toronto and Winnipeg via Northern Ontario \u2013 on its first trip in nine months is the death rattle of Canada\u2019s passenger trains.\u00a0 It needn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Working on my book on this long and sad Canadian saga, I frequently look south at Amtrak.\u00a0 There, a few miles from the border, a solution operates reliably, affordably, and effectively.\u00a0 It is the Chicago-St. Paul-Seattle\/Portland Empire Builder.\u00a0 It is named for Ontario-born James J. Hill, who built the original railway plied by Amtrak\u2019s double-deck train today using many Bombardier-built, Ottawa-financed passenger cars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amtrak and VIA started out at much the same place and with the same objective: Respond to public demands that the government save what remained of each country\u2019s once-massive rail passenger systems.\u00a0 That happened in the U.S. in 1971 and it fuelled public demands that Pierre Trudeau\u2019s government do the same here, which they reluctantly did in 1977.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the similarities pretty much end right there.\u00a0 Amtrak faced rough political sledding through its 50 years of publicly-funded operation, but nothing like VIA.\u00a0 That\u2019s because its founders armed it with enabling legislation that makes it almost impossible for any administration to kill it, though many have tried.\u00a0 That legislation allows Amtrak to adapt to changing conditions and adopt new concepts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One key provision gives any state wanting more service the right to it if they pay part of the cost.\u00a0 That contrasts with Canada, where the provinces whine and contribute nothing to VIA while throwing billions at highways.\u00a0 The feds undermine their own VIA by propping up our overblown and expensive air system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amtrak\u2019s 17 state partnerships fund 28 regional corridors in addition to its basic national network, which includes the high-density Northeast Corridor and 15 long-distance trains that make VIA look like a rolling museum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern equipment has always been near the top of Amtrak\u2019s agenda since its 1971 launch.\u00a0 Democratic and Republican legislators have made that happen.\u00a0 One was President-Elect Joe Biden, whose efforts in support of and daily use of Amtrak earned him the nicknames \u201cAmtrak Joe\u201d and the \u201cSenator from Amtrak.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of Biden and many other rail-savvy federal and state representatives before, during, and after his first tour on Capitol Hill, Amtrak rolls \u2013 and rolls with modern equipment that has slashed costs and boosted ridership and revenue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Empire Builder is typical of today\u2019s coast-to-coast Amtrak network.\u00a0 In 2016, I compared it with VIA\u2019s Canadian.\u00a0 Updating that analysis is virtually impossible because VIA frequently changes its data reporting methods.\u00a0 One might suspect VIA and its Ottawa leash-pullers are trying to hide something.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2013, Amtrak\u2019s Empire Builder \u2013 equipped with double-deck Superliner cars, many built by Bombardier with Export Development Canada financing \u2013 carried more than five times as many passengers and ran more than twice as frequently for less than a third of the per-passenger subsidy of the Canadian, which operates with rebuilt 1950s rolling stock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

South of the Empire Builder\u2019s route on the former Great Northern Railway \u2013 built by Ontario-born James J. Hill and the two Scottish cousins who also built the CPR \u2013 citizens and politicians are advocating the relaunch of the North Coast Limited on another line through Fargo, Bismarck, Billings, Helena, and Spokane.\u00a0 It would run in conjunction with the Empire Builder to link this aptly-named flyover territory with the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no reason Canada can\u2019t do the same.\u00a0 Ah, but the politics of it all.\u00a0 That\u2019s why VIA has been a disaster since its inception and is now clearly headed for that big roundhouse in the sky.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have the equivalents of President-Elect Biden and the many other Democrats and Republicans who have seen the vital need for a modern rail passenger system to keep their nation economically, socially, and environmentally vibrant and competitive.\u00a0 It\u2019s political will as much as public bucks that make the trains roll \u2013 or not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until that happens, Canada\u2019s rail passenger service is doomed.\u00a0 It all makes me think of the words on that inspiring plaque beside the CPR main line at Craigellachie, British Columbia:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA nebulous dream was a reality: \u00a0an iron ribbon crossed Canada from sea to sea.\u00a0 Often following the footsteps of early explorers, nearly 3,000 miles of steel rail pushed across vast prairies, cleft lofty mountain passes, twisted through canyons, and bridged a thousand streams.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here on November 7, 1885, a plain iron spike welded East to West.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent performance by VIA Rail\u2019s Canadian between Vancouver and Winnipeg \u2013 but not between Toronto and Winnipeg via Northern Ontario \u2013 on its first trip in nine months is the death rattle of Canada\u2019s passenger trains.\u00a0 It needn\u2019t be.   Working on my book on this long and sad Canadian saga, I frequently look …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":40221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 20:37:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40994,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40220\/revisions\/40994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}