The Slow Death of Passenger Rail Service Between Ontario and the USA

Perhaps the most chilling example of our archaic Canadian passenger rail system is the current debacle facing the Amtrak The Maple Leaf train that runs from Toronto to New York.

In my lifetime I may be witness to the elimination of all passenger rail trains between Ontario and the USA. While most countries have seamless movements of people between countries by rail, successive Canadian federal governments have failed to have any policy or plan for cross border passenger rail service. The end result is that two of three passenger rail crossings between Ontario and the USA are extinct, while the third crossing at Niagara Falls for the Toronto – New York train is on life support.

I am from Windsor, Ontario, and saw first hand the elimination of the Detroit -Windsor border when the Amtrak Niagara Rainbow passenger train was eliminated on January 31st, 1979 after almost a century of passenger rail service.

After moving to the Waterloo Region, I experienced the death of the Toronto-Chicago Amtrak The International passenger rail service through the Sarnia-Port Huron border in 2004. Ironically, I shot a photo of The International at the Kitchener, Ontario railway station not knowing that in less then three months it would be discontinued.

Now there is the precarious situation for The Maple Leaf train that runs from Toronto to New York.

It seemed like in the USA, passenger rail renewal on this line was hopeful. President Obama is reinvesting in passenger rail including a dedicated third track for passenger rail in the Albany – Buffalo corridor part of the Toronto – New York route. The City of Niagara Falls New York was building a new International Railway Station. They are very supportive of continued use of passenger rail service between Canada and the USA

Now circumstances in the USA and Canada have put passenger rail service through the Niagara Falls border on a lifeline.

In the USA, Section 209 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act requires that all routes under 750 miles, excluding the Boston - Washington Northeast Corridor, be the financial responsibility of the state governments. This mandate will become effective in 2013. So that means that the cost of running Amtrak’s The Maple Leaf will be the responsibility of the State of New York. It is hoped that the State will fund its continued use.

The Niagara Bridge Commission owns the Whirlpool Bridge that has a single track crossing that The Maple Leaf runs on.

CN has the rights to run trains on the bridge. It has not run freight traffic over the bridge in several years and now has decided unilaterally to abandon the bridge and offer the track for sale at an unknown cost.

The Niagara Bridge Commission is charging a fee for passenger rail operators that want to continue to run a service over the bridge. Sources who want to remain private have stated that the fees the Commission is charging Amtrak to run on the bridge are extremely high.

VIA Rail is doing its usual “duck and cover routine” on this issue and are doing nothing to keep the passenger rail service intact on this line.

On the Canadian side, the Progressive Conservation Federal Government under Prime Minister Harper has not taken any actions to address the issues relating to purchasing the track over the bridge and negotiating a fair price for usage of the bridge. This failure by our government may result in the final nail in the coffin for Ontario/USA passenger trains. Non action by our Canadian federal government will result in the abandonment of cross passenger rail service at Niagara Falls.

It is tragic that our Canadian federal government has no plan for passenger rail at our border crossing or in this country as a whole. What is more tragic is that we the public allow this to happen.