On February 20, 2025, Canada’s Minister of Transport Anita Anand announced that the Cadence consortium has been selected as the winner of the VIA-HFR Request for Proposals that was published on October 13, 2023. VIA-HFR was rebranded as “Alto” and, as we anticipated, the high-speed 300 km/h+ option in the bid was confirmed. After decades …
Transport Action Canada, founded as Transport 2000 Canada in 1977, is the nation’s leading citizen transportation advocacy group. We represent the interests of consumers or users of public transport services in Canada. Here are some of the main issues that our advocacy work revolves around:
- the development of rail passenger services in Canada;
- the future of inter-city bus services and their connectivity to rail and air services;
- urban and commuter transit systems;
- the implications to consumers of the deregulated airline industry in Canada;
- the impact on the public interest of demands for new highway spending
We're here to help you get there.
We exist to advocate on your behalf so that the decision makers understand the needs of passengers, and follow through on what they promise. That new bus stop. That construction being complete. More bus or train times... So on. And we'd love to keep you in the loop.
VIA Rail Struggling with Fleet Availability
One daily roundtrip between Ottawa and Toronto and some weekend departures have been cut from VIA Rail’s schedule at least until at least March 2025 as the company struggles with fleet availability. Caught between the need to retire its legacy corridor fleet, including life-expired LRC cars, and availability issues with the new Siemens Venture fleet, …
Book Review: How The Railways Will Fix The Future
Reviewed by Ken Westcar, board member of Transport Action Ontario Railway historians, enthusiasts and planners will revel in this compendium of industry experience, logic and pragmatism. In How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential Brilliance of the Iron Road Gareth Dennis leverages his career in UK railway engineering and global research to …
Ottawa’s Trillium Line re-opens
Ottawa’s Trillium Line light rail re-opened on December 6, 2024. Transport Action Atlantic president Tim Hayman was in Ottawa and provided this report on the first trip. By rather happy coincidence, I found myself in Ottawa during the week of the O-Train Line 2/4 opening. January 6th marked the official start of revenue service on …
Alberta Moving Quickly to Advance Regional Rail
The province of Alberta hosted a passenger rail forum on November 22, 2024. Transport Action was represented at the forum and we have positive news from the event.
...Transit conferences focus on funding and standardization
Transport Action board members attended the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) conference in Toronto from November 17-20, 2024 and the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium’s (CUTRIC) Zero Emission Transit and Mobility Conference, held in Burlington in October. Ongoing collaboration with both of these industry organizations is vital to furthering our advocacy for passengers …