Canada’s Province of Ontario government on March 28 agreed to release funding to complete property acquisitions for Hamilton’s planned light rail transit system, following a freeze implemented in 2018. The halt to property acquisitions had been made, allegedly, as part of Ontario’s efforts to reduce a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.
Metrolinx, the Government of Ontario’s transit funding, planning and construction agency, recently announced cutbacks to the Hurontario Light Rail project in. The stated reason for the changes was to help reduce Ontario’s multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.
The World Economic Forum’s most recent Regional Risks of Doing Business report lists cyberattacks as the top concern of corporate executives in 19 countries, including advanced economies in North America, Europe, and Asia. These concerns, according to the report, “highlight the growing reliance of global commerce on digital networks that are the target of increasingly sophisticated and prolific attacks.”
Work on Toronto’s 12-mile (19-kilometer) Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, the city’s largest, is heading toward the last lap. The line is scheduled to open in September 2021.
Design and planning work continues on Hamilton’s 10-mile (14-kilometer) LRT line, despite ongoing political uncertainty over the project’s future. Meanwhile, the planned and approved expansion of GO Train service to Grimsby, St. Catherines and Niagara Falls has experienced a recent potential setback. And on Oct. 30, the author, representing Railway Age, visited the Bombardier Transportation rail division plant at Millhaven, Ontario, located a short distance west of Kingston.
Rick Leary, recently confirmed as CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), is an American who made the move to Canada from Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or “T”), initially with a 4-1/2 year stint running York Region Transit (YRT), on Toronto’s northern border.
The Ontario Provincial Government—now run by Premier Doug Ford, brother of the late Rob Ford, Toronto’s scandal-plagued former mayor— is planning to take over Toronto’s subway and Scarborough Rapid Transit system, currently owned and operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, totaling 48 route-miles.
The past few years have admittedly been tough for Bombardier Transportation in North America. Changing dynamics—in particular, China’s entrance into the vehicle market—combined with delivery and quality problems and highly public squabbles with key Canadian and U.S. customers—have impacted the company’s business as well as its reputation. Now, however, Bombardier’s fortunes appear to be turning around.
Mosaic Transit Group has signed a contract worth C$2.5 billion ($1.9 billion) to design, build, finance and maintain the Finch West Light Rail Transit project.
Alstom Canada has leased a large industrial building in Brampton, Ontario, northwest of Toronto, for the assembly of its Citadis Spirit LRVs. Debro Steel formerly occupied the building, located on the south side of CN’s east-west access line that serves MacMillan Yard, Toronto’s main classification yard.
