Transport Committee on April 18th, 2016

[Greg Percy]

Could you repeat your question, please?

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Could you provide some thoughts on increasing your capacity—I'm talking specifically about the Milton line; it's only one way during peak hours—to all-day, two-way service?

[Greg Percy]

That is a corridor we do not own. It's actually owned by Canadian Pacific Railway. We are in discussions with them to look at various ways to expand the corridor to accommodate more GO service. We very recently agreed to a scope of work and a consultant who would do the capacity analysis to find the way to do that.

So I believe there are discussions in early stages between the federal and provincial governments to cost-share how that could be done, but we actually need the capacity analysis to point us in the correct direction for where that expansion needs to happen.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Could you please provide your thoughts on the Missing Link project?

[Greg Percy]

Yes, the Missing Link, for those who may not be familiar with it, is the name given by the towns of Milton and Mississauga for a section of track between Bramalea and Milton. It's a straight piece of track that would allow CN, for example, to have a short distance between those two points. We've actually had some discussion with both railways as to whether there was a sharing opportunity there, and that option is not very workable for either one. But certainly that is an opportunity that we are pursuing, and again, there's some interest, I think, in co-sharing the funding between the two levels of government to enable that to happen.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I'd like to share my time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

I'd just like to expand a bit more on the Missing Link. I did have some concerns raised by some folks in that area.

Would Mr. Percy have any more information on the work being done with his project?

[Greg Percy]

There are confidential commercial discussions going on with CN, and I've signed a non-disclosure agreement with them not to say too much, but I can give you a general view.

Today, CN goes from Bramalea up to Georgetown, then south. That's their main line to serve both Buffalo and Sarnia. This proposed route is about seven miles shorter, and for CN there's some commercial strategy upside to that. For GO Transit there's an upside, because that frees up the capacity that CN would otherwise use on their current corridor for future GO traffic, to increase the movement between Union Station all the way to Kitchener.

So that's what's in it for both parties. The discussion with CP continues. There's a remote possibility of some co-sharing on the so-called Missing Link, but I think the more viable option would be expansion of their current Milton corridor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Now we have Mr. Iacono and Mr. Badawey, who are going to share their time. It's three minutes each.

Mr. Iacono.

Oh, I'm so sorry, Ms. Duncan.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I'm usually third. I know I'm being forgotten today, but I'd really like to just have my few minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes, my apologies. I want you to have your time.

It's Ms. Duncan for six minutes. We wait every week to hear you.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Yes, I'm sure.

I want to thank both of you gentlemen. I particularly want to thank VIA Rail, because you got me home safely during 9/11 from Fredericton to Alberta. I wish I'd had a camcorder at the time to record all the people who had only one way to get back to the west from the east coast during that time, and that was by rail. It was quite an experience.

I just want to add, to VIA Rail, a plea from my colleagues in northern Ontario who are deeply sad to see their rail service disappearing, because in many cases it's the only link to the south for some of those communities.

I actually took the time to pull up VIA Rail's 2014-18 corporate plan. It's very interesting. I noticed that you talked a lot about rail track segments abandoned by owners. I'm presuming in many cases that was by the main lines, CN or CP. I'm troubled by what you said, that as the lines deteriorate and the main lines are not willing to upgrade those lines, then ultimately VIA Rail has to suspend service.

Could you speak to that and what kind of action you think the federal government should be taking to put some pressure on the main line companies? Secondly, what kind of process is followed to come to the final decision that you're going to cease service because of rail safety?

[Marc Beaulieu]

I'll speak to my expertise from a safety perspective. From a safety perspective, we monitor and work closely with all infrastructure owners to make sure there's a proper level of safety for us to operate passenger trains on. We did so towards the Gaspé region, and we did that on Vancouver Island. We monitor safety situations very closely. When we have any doubts as to whether a main line is safe or not for operations, we suspend services for safety reasons only.

I can't speak to what a government should or shouldn't do. That's not really my piece to say. My responsibility is to make sure that our operations are safe and efficient, and that we serve all the communities that the government mandates us to do.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Sir, who makes the decisions on the suspension of service? Does Transport Canada at some point enter in there? Do the municipalities that are along those lines do? Are they engaged in that discussion, or is that a unilateral decision? Who has access to that information on the deteriorating infrastructure?

[Marc Beaulieu]

That would vary from railway to railway, so it would depend on who owns the rail infrastructure, whether it be governmental or private. In the case of Gaspé, it's owned by the provincial government. In British Columbia, it is owned by a group of communities, so I can't speak on their behalf.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I have a question for Mr. Percy. I noticed a statement in your materials—and I don't know if it's specifically Metrolinx-GO—that experience has shown that one-person train operations supported by enhanced train control are safe and efficient. After the experience at Lac-Mégantic, are you still standing by the call for single operators of trains, including those carrying passengers?

[Greg Percy]

We always look at ways to protect safety, but also to manage costs. We would always look at that. Right now, we don't have a one-person crew operation. We are three, except on one quarter, where we're two, where we inherited the collective agreement or the parameters within that collective agreement. So there, it's a two-person crew.

We're always looking at those capabilities, and if there's an equivalent level of safety that technology can provide, for example, true enhanced train control, we would look at that to see if it would work for us.

Right now there are seven rail corridors, six of which have a three-person operating crew, and the seventh a two-person operating crew, but we're always looking at technology alternatives to enhance safety.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Have you ever submitted a request for a one-person train operation?

[Greg Percy]

We have not. Not yet.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Not yet, okay.

I'm just wondering if either of you have any additional recommendations that you'd wish to make? I notice that VIA Rail is perhaps looking for more money for security because of the terrorism threat. Are you having to put a lot of money in because of that?

[Marc Beaulieu]

We identified some monies in our 2016 budget to address our security strategy. We've been implementing it since the first quarter of this year, so we do have a strategy. The government recently announced some additional funding for our security strategy, so we're very happy to hear about that. Based on our strategy, we're meeting our high-level objectives of providing security.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Now it's Mr. Iacono for three minutes, and then Mr. Badawey for his other three.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here today to answer some of our questions. I will be sharing my time with Mr. Badawey.

My first question is for Marc Beaulieu.

The Transportation Safety Board identified the risk of collisions between passenger trains and vehicles, particularly in the rail corridor between Quebec City and Windsor, as one of the greatest risks to safety in the federal transportation system.

Do you think video and voice recorders should be installed in cabins and locomotives, in addition to technical data recorders, as a way to make the system safer?

[Marc Beaulieu]

Thank you for your question.

Right now, we are taking part in an in-cabin video and voice recorder project, in partnership with the Transportation Safety Board.

Our locomotives are already equipped with event recorders that can be checked remotely, by computer, to ascertain the circumstances surrounding an accident. I firmly believe that the addition of in-cab video and voice recorders to our locomotives would significantly improve our safety management system.