Passenger train could link the North: locals.Two Sault Ste. Marie Sault Sainte Marie — pronounced "Soo Saint Marie" (IPA /su seɪnt məˈɹi/) — is the name of two cities on the Saint Marys River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada. residents are on board the movement aiming to reinstate passenger rail service between Winnipeg and Sudbury. Understandably, they are more focused on the Sault-Sudbury corridor. Mike O'Shea and Art Osborne are circulating a discussion paper on their passenger rail initiative to politicians and community and economic development officials along the Highway 17 corridor. O'Shea, who first arrived in Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it by train in 1970, wants to provoke a discussion leading to a more formal research study in the near future. They intend to form a group to find out if passenger rail can be profitable, sustainable and, further along those lines, whether it may be eligible for government subsidies. "By and large when I talk to people in the community who travel, they all think this is a great idea," says O'Shea. Passenger rail service along Lake Huron's North Shore was dropped by CP Rail in the 1970s. The 288-km line is now run by short haul Short distance. Short haul implies traversing a small geographic area such as a few miles at most. Contrast with long haul. See line driver. operator Huron Central Railway Huron Central Railway is a Canadian railroad operating company owned by Genesee and Wyoming, which in 1997 leased the approximately 305 km long Canadian Pacific Railway branch between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. . In their paper, they claim a premium service would enhance the quality of life in the North and help link some smaller communities. They also view passenger rail as a safer, environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] , all-weather travel. Discussion of the Sault-to-Sudbury Bud Car service has surfaced before, but O'Shea says there has never been any formal study to crunch some numbers in developing a business case. "People have been discouraged and not done it." Given today's economic climate, he cites a wide range of reasons to re-introduce the service, including benefits for tourism development, offering more travel options for an aging population and providing better access for Northerners to medical treatment in Sudbury. The local Elks Club regularly runs a van service to shuttle cancer patients to Sudbury Regional Hospital Sudbury Regional Hospital (SRH) is a hospital located in the city of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The SRH was established in the 1990s as part of provincial health care restructuring program by the Mike Harris government. for treatment. "And if the Northern medical school is truly supposed to be linking the North and providing opportunities across northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and east of Lakes Superior and Huron. Northeastern Ontario consists of Algoma District, Sudbury District, Cochrane District, Timiskaming District, Nipissing District, Manitoulin ... here's an opportunity to put the infrastructure in place for med students and interns travelling back and forth." O'Shea says there could be limitless passenger potential with enough casual travel for film festivals, hockey tournaments, school field trips, shopping and tourism excursions to places such as Science North and the Agawa Canyon Created 1.2 billion years ago by faulting along the Canadian Shield and then enlarged by the erosive action of the Agawa River, the Agawa Canyon is located deep in the sparsely populated Algoma District in the Canadian province of Ontario. Tour Train to make it work. For business travellers, O'Shea says today's wireless, portable technology allows people to stay electronically connected while en route. O'Shea is interested to hear what benefits the service could bring to North Shore communities, possibly as a commuter or seasonal train. "I'm convinced there are other people out there who have though about this. There are other models that might come forward." O'Shea says there may be some infrastructure improvements needed for the rail bed to move freight and passengers more quickly and comfortably. He adds there are all kinds of short-haul passenger models available, most established in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The Canada Transportation Act, introduced in 1996, paved the way for the creation of more short and regional line railways, but many are without any form of passenger rail transportation. CP does run a Bud Car service between Sudbury and White River, as well as the CN passenger service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst. "So there is some precedent there. It's (only) a matter of political will." A key concern is finding a return haul to have passengers heading west to the Sault. "We're trying to get a sense of whether there is any interest in Sudbury," says O'Shea. They are partnering with another passenger rail proposal taking shape in northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior, and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. . The Superior North Community Futures Development Corp. (SNCFDC) has also secured Thunder Bay consultant Sylvain Gervais, a former Via Rail employee studying the feasibility of reintroducing passenger service between Sudbury and Winnipeg via Thunder Bay. The proposal has received letters of endorsement from Thunder Bay MP Ken Boshcoff, Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP (Massively Parallel Processing or Massively Parallel Processor) A multiprocessing architecture that uses up to thousands of processors. Some might contend that a computer system with 64 or more CPUs is a massively parallel processor. Bill Mauro, Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, Lakehead University president Fred Gilbert, a Canadian Autoworkers local, the Township of Schreiber and Transport 2000 Canada Transport 2000 Canada is a non-profit, consumer-based organization that promotes sustainable transport through advocacy and education. It is concerned with all modes of public transport, such as passenger train service, aviation including air safety, and urban transit. , a national transportation think tank. Gervais says the Thunder Bay and Sault proponents will be combining their proposals for a more pan-Northern project. The Sault group hopes to secure some seed funding to pay for their share of the feasibility study, likely in the range of $5,000 to $10,000. www.superiortrain.com By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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