High frequency train | The privacy in the driver’s seat

It is the private sector who will be in charge of the future high-frequency train (TGF) and who will decide the price to pay to board as well as the timetables. This billion-dollar project is also likely to cause upheaval among VIA Rail employees over the next decade.

Julien Arsenault
The Press

If the federal Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, was stingy with details by inviting the private sector to take part in the adventure, last March 9, in Montreal, the Trudeau government has since lifted the veil on its intentions in a document of approximately 75 pages put online. This was not available at the time of Mr. Alghabra’s announcement.

It is in the middle of this solicitation of interest that we detail how the contribution of the private sector will go further than the design. A “partner” will be responsible for operating the VIA Rail trains that will run on the reserved corridor between Quebec City and Toronto – a model that is becoming more and more widespread around the world – when the TGF comes into service, at the start of the next decade.

“It’s another great case of coming out of a box of Cracker Jack,” says transportation planning expert at the University of Montreal Pierre Barrieau.

The expert has nothing against a partnership with private enterprise, but is surprised by the lack of debate in the public arena. This is a “fundamental change” that raises many questions about the future of VIA Rail, which is accumulating operating losses and which is financially supported by the federal government.

Thursday afternoon, Transport Canada and representatives of Minister Alghabra did not respond to questions from The Press.

According to the document, all VIA Rail services in the Quebec City-Toronto corridor will be transferred to the “private partner”, which will handle revenue collection. He will have a say in everything surrounding the crown corporation’s busiest corridor. Guidelines, which are not specified, will have to be respected for prices, schedules and other aspects of the service.

“All the terminology is very vague, agrees Mark Purdon, holder of the Chair in Decarbonization at UQAM and specialist in transport planning. But we are talking about a new model. I would be surprised if the federal government was not involved in this company. »

And the employees?

The fate that awaits VIA Rail employees working on the Quebec City-Toronto corridor is unclear. The Ottawa document is limited to saying that we want to “reduce the impact on employees”. According to its most recent annual report, the Crown corporation had some 2,800 full-time workers.

“Will VIA Rail take advantage of this privatization to lay off workers or transfer them to the private company, which will improve efficiency? asks Mr. Barrieau. There are a lot of staff and there is a modernization of activities to be done. »

If he were an employee of the Crown corporation, Mr. Purdon says he would have “worries”. If the TGF meets expectations and footfall is up on the corridor, maybe there will be more predictability, according to the expert.

According to Unifor, which represents 2,000 VIA Rail employees, the Ottawa plan is a ploy to privatize the entire Quebec-Toronto corridor through an opaque process, deplores Olivier Carrière, assistant to the Quebec director of the union. With few details available, he worries about his members.

Several questions

After mentioning a budget of 6 to 12 billion for the TGF last summer, Mr. Alghabra said he should not have come forward. The bill is therefore likely to be higher, but the minister no longer wants to talk about figures.

The trains would run on reserved tracks, which is not currently the case. They would drive faster, up to 200 km/h, which should lead to gains on all journeys. Montreal-Quebec would be done in 2 h 55 min or 3 h, rather than 3 h 24 min at present.

If the Quebec-Toronto corridor is entrusted to an entity in which the private sector is present, Mr. Barrieau wonders how the harmonization with VIA Rail’s intercity routes will be achieved.

“At the Montreal and Toronto stations, we will have trains that will be operated by VIA Rail and others by this private company,” he said. How are we going to manage tickets, platforms and luggage? »

VIA Rail has not commented on the scenario mentioned in the Trudeau government document. In an email, she limited herself to saying that she would play a “essential role throughout the project”, without offering more details.