Local mayor in favour of high speed rail
Posted May 22, 2017 07:28:05 AM.
Last Updated May 22, 2017 08:56:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Municipal officials say the need for high speed rail in Waterloo region is an 11 on a one-to-10 scale.
It follows Friday’s announcement from the province that preliminary design work is set to begin on a new high speed train service with stops in Guelph and Kitchener.
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky says something has to be done to give commuters easier and faster access to our surrounding areas.
“We have tens of thousands of trips along the 401 into Toronto every day,” he says. ‘We need to get those people off the 401 and into high speed.”
Premier Kathleen Wynne estimates capital costs to build a rail system through the Toronto-London corridor is upwards of $20 billion, for a train that can travel 250 km/h and utilize existing tracks. Jaworsky says the cost analysis was in favour of a slower train. According to a government-commissioned report, the province also examined the feasibility of a 300 km/h train. However, that would have cost about $75 billion.
Ultimately, the rail link will make Waterloo region more desirable, says Jaworsky.
“We have a number of companies in town. If we count even just about a dozen of them with high-volume hiring, they probably have more than 3,000 openings at this time,” says Jaworsky. “Some people will be coming from Toronto, some people from London, and we need to move them here on an efficient travel system.”
