UTTRI associated faculty Professor Matti Siemiatycki commented on a project proposed by Via Rail to explore the possibility of high-frequency rail in the Quebec City-Toronto corridor.
“Via’s case for major rail project better without Montreal-Quebec leg, according to fed. document,” by The Canadian Press was published online by the Vancouver Sun, July 28, 2019.
Professor Siemiatycki’s remarks are quoted below.
Extensive academic research has shown high-frequency and high-speed rail lines around the world rarely, if ever, recover their capital and operating costs, said Matti Siemiatycki, a transportation-policy expert at the University of Toronto.
“If you look at the annual reports for Via, all of those lines are losing money and are heavily subsidized … These are huge numbers to make up,” Siemiatycki said in an interview.
“In general, that is a highly optimistic business case.”
He added that Via is in a “tough spot” and he credited the Crown corporation for trying to find a way to make the project work.
Siemiatycki said there are likely good arguments to be made for the project on environmental or social-connectivity grounds, but framing it as a good revenue-generating opportunity is harder.
“It will be interesting to see if they can find investors to come to the table who are really going to risk their own private capital on what seems like a fairly high-risk proposal,” he said.