VIA Rail's eastbound 'Canadian' at Jasper, AB. VIA Rail rebuilt F40PH #6406 and Coors Light "Silver Bullet Express" unit #6408 on the point. The fact that the off season service frequency of this train has been cut to two times per week is a scathing indictment of Canadian transportation policy. The root cause of this deplorable situation was a decision by the Federal Conservatives to cut VIA's meager funding - a decision that completely ignored the transportation needs of the millions of people who ride VIA every year, and that passenger rail already receives less than 1% of the government spending given to other modes of transport: http://www.comt.ca/english/statistics.pdf
In response, the passenger rail advocacy group 'National Dream Renewed' has prepared an extensive report aimed at VIA Rail's recovery which recommends restoring the frequency of VIA's long distance trains back to daily service, as well as a host of other improvements including the passage of a VIA Rail Act securing VIA's future, restoration of corridor service frequencies that were cut and investing in new locomotives & rolling stock. With a new and hopefully more enlightened Canadian Federal Government in place, I would encourage those who support passenger rail to contact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca and Transport Minister Marc Garneau at: marc.garneau@parl.gc.ca and urge them to invest in passenger rail and adopt the recommendations set forth in the excellent Transport Action Canada report which can be viewed at the following link: http://ontario.transportaction.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/VIA-1-4-10-Plan-V2-2016-02-01.pdf
Cheers, Pete. http://northamericabyrail.info
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
