True Story

by Isabel D

I live somewhere between Montreal and Ottawa. I travel regularly to Toronto for work, and I always take the Via train - the train that already exists.

Today was one such day. This morning, like usual, I drove to the station that is most convenient for me – the Via station in Cornwall, Ontario. There was no traffic to worry about, of course. I knew that parking would be easy. This will all play out very differently if my “closest station” becomes downtown Montreal due to Alto – I’ll have to leave home several hours before the sun rises, drive through rush hour traffic, over a bridge, onto the island and through downtown Montreal congestion.

But this morning in Cornwall, I hopped on the train around 8am.

The train, which came from Montreal, was nearly empty, which should raise some questions about Alto’s future customer base. As we rode, I looked out the window. I noted that for much of the Via itinerary, we were next to some other type of barrier – whether it was along the shores of Lake Ontario, or the 401. There was rarely a need for any wildlife fencing. I had never noticed that before. I think I noticed it this time because for the last few months, I have been thinking so much about the wildlife fence that will come with Alto. The fence that will disrupt wildlife corridors, and cut communities in half. The fence that comes with a high speed train.

As we stopped at the stations in between Montreal and Toronto, we picked up more passengers, and pretty soon my car was about two thirds full. I reflected that none of these additional passengers would be getting a ride on Alto, which will just whiz by their communities, after cutting them in half. These passengers came from all walks of life. Via Rail is truly a train of the people. I saw students heading back to school, whose suitcases, I’m guessing, were full of clean laundry; retirees dressed to the nines for a big trip to the city; and business travellers like me.

Most of these people will be nowhere near an Alto station.

And for those who might be – I wonder how many of them will be able to afford a ticket on a train that will cost over 90 billion dollars to build.

Around noon, my train pulled into Union station. Union Station - that is true downtown Toronto, and it's the essential hub that connects Via trains to Go trains, Toronto’s airports, and the subway. Even Alto officials acknowledge that Alto likely won’t make it to Union Station. In fact, there is no definite plan for where the Toronto station will be, whether it will even be downtown or how it will connect to any of these other systems. This "detail" may end up negating the small potential time savings of the high speed train over the current train, leading any business travellers with earlier meetings than mine, to stick to flying.

In any case, the story ends with me making it to my work meeting, as I always do. Without any unnecessary expropriations or additional habitat destruction. Thanks to the train… that already exists.

Pictures - nearly empty train from Montreal and train filling up as we stop at "in-between" stations.