It starts with the government's willingness to act, since it owns the company. The key to success lies with the approach that we are slowly implementing, namely increasing the frequency of train service in order to offer more relevant service to the public.
We compete with other modes of transportation, whether automobiles, planes or other modes. Our greatest competition comes from the automobile. Eighty per cent of all trips along the corridor are taken by automobile. Bus and train travel account for the difference. Added frequencies would allow us to offer more choice and a more relevant product. That is the first point.
The second area that we are working on is train speed. Trains must observe certain speed limits. We are working on laying tracks and on having enough side tracks and third tracks so that trains can maintain a higher average speed and travel at 160 kilometres an hour over longer stretches. That is the theory behind our investment program that will take us several years to implement fully. Everything should be in place by the end of 2012.
We conducted an experiment and increased train speed along certain segments of the Ottawa-Toronto corridor. We also increased train speed and frequencies on the Montreal-Ottawa route. The results were conclusive: it is possible to increase train speed, provided the other components of the strategy work properly.