The Case For Commuter Rail Toronto To Peterborough Route

February 29, 2008

Peterborough, ON - The Places to Grow Act which was written by Ontario’s Liberal Government specifically identifies Peterborough and the Durham Region as a rapid growth area as part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The re-establishment of commuter rail between Toronto’s Union Station and Harper Road in Peterborough will provide significant environmental, recreational, and social benefits to all communities along the route.

The Havelock sub-route railway line, operated by Kawartha Lakes Railway and owned by parent company CP Rail
is a critical spoke to what is indicated as Hub 5 in the Province of Ontario’s 2020 Move Ontario Plan. This investment into public transit will support healthy future growth of all communities along the route while combating a growing traffic congestion problem in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region, which is expected to grow by an additional 3.7 million people over the next 30 years according to the Places to Grow Act.

Since the rail line was terminated in 1990, the population that would be serviced by this line has grown by 320,000 people. This places us as one of the fastest growing areas in all of Ontario, Canada and North America.

These facts tell us that this line is a critical piece of economic infrastructure. This is a short-line rail that will not only service passenger rail but also freight traffic and it will contribute substantially to reductions in greenhouse gas, smog and vehicle traffic on Toronto highways. One way service from Peterborough to Toronto will provide for rush hour travel times of less than 90 minutes, and reduce one way car trips to and from Toronto by at least 470,000 per year from its inception, with an even greater future benefit.

This investment in public transit will also further contribute to economic expansion throughout the Region of Durham, the City of Kawartha Lakes and the City of Peterborough. Research indicates that this service can operate without subsidy after the initial capital investments.

This infrastructure investment is not mutually exclusive of any other transportation infrastructure investment that has been proposed either by the Province of Ontario or the City of Toronto. Additional economic infrastructure projects will be the focus of future investments made by the Government of Canada into Ontario under the Building Canada Initiative - the nation’s largest infrastructure investment program since WWII. The province must sign onto this program so that other key infrastructure initiatives in the Province of Ontario can be considered and get underway for the benefit of all of Ontario.

Budget 2008 sets aside up to $500 million in 2007–08 to be paid into a third-party trust, allocated on a provincialterritorial per capita basis, for public transit infrastructure. Funding will be paid into the trust, once legislation has been passed, for only those beneficiaries that have made public commitments before March 31, 2008 to undertake investments in public transit. The beneficiaries of the trust will have the flexibility to draw down the funding as they require over the next two years. They are encouraged to report publicly on the expenditures financed and outcomes achieved. The trust will be used for specific projects of capital infrastructure such as rapid transit, rail, transit buses, and high occupancy vehicle and bicycle lanes. The trust will make contributions towards projects.

The final cost of this specific project has not yet been defined. Details regarding this project, including the service provider, will be decided in the future.