Transport Action Canada, a national public transportation advocacy organization, says it supports a potential Kingston, Ont., stop on Alto’s proposed high-speed rail network, but is raising concerns about the station itself.
Last month, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon asked Crown corporation Alto to consider a southern route between Peterborough and Ottawa that would include a potential stop in Kingston.
Transport Action said it supports adding a Kingston stop but believes it should be closely integrated with existing Via Rail service.
The advocacy group said its biggest concern is Alto’s proposed southern alignment, which it says could place a station about a 25- to 30-minute drive north of Kingston.
“It is quite hard to make a competitive connection when one service can regularly be expected to be 30-plus minutes late,” a Transport Action spokesperson said in a release, referring to Via Rail’s on-time performance.
The group said better connections with Via Rail are essential so communities along the Lake Ontario corridor benefit from the project.
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The request followed the first round of public consultations on the project which would span about 1,000 km between Toronto and Québec City, with trains travelling at speeds of more than 300 km/h.
According to Transport Canada, the network is expected to cut travel times roughly in half.
For now, however, Alto said in a statement that it’s evaluating whether Kingston should be added to the route or not.
“We’re rigorously analyzing this option,” Crystal Jongeward, Alto’s senior adviser of corporate communications, said in an email to Global News.
The corporation said a Kingston station could improve connections across Eastern Ontario by linking the city with Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal.
Jongeward said the review is examining construction costs, ridership, regional accessibility, technical feasibility, economic and social benefits, and the network’s long-term performance.
Alto also said the stop could put about 80 per cent of people living between Peterborough and Ottawa within a 25-minute drive of a rail station.
Transport Action also called on Alto to ensure the network includes direct access to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport when it opens and eventually have it connect to Toronto Pearson International Airport.
It also said stations should be located in the downtown cores of Toronto, Montréal and Québec City, arguing that central stations are critical to the success of high-speed rail.
The advocacy group is also urging the federal government to release Alto’s business case, including its assessment of alternatives such as making greater use of existing rail corridors.
Alto said it will continue studying the Kingston option over the coming months and expects to share more information after its technical analysis and additional consultations are complete.
The first section of the Alto line to be built will be the Ottawa-Montreal corridor.
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