FR EPRESS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1989, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN TAKE THE TRAIN In the run-up to Michael Wilson's budget, the Conservatives have floated a number of trial balloons to find which cuts will cause the least public outcry. One that's got a lot of attention is the possibility of closing down VIA Rail at a saving of $600 million dollars·a year. Public rail in Canada is an historically sensitive issue. The country developed along the rail lines and thousands of communities owe their very existence to them. Nevertheless, as other forms of transport have developed, the need for much of our rail system has disappeared. There is no doubt that changes are long overdue and, ironically, no one has been pushing harder than VIA itself. The current desire of some politicians to close them down is a lot like the slum landlord who lets his buildings rot away until they have to be torn down for the "public good". Comparisons between'VIA Rail and its competition in the air and on the highways almost always concentrate on VIA's huge subsidy, but the comparison is misleading. Ever since VIA took over the passenger services of CP and CN, it has been the poor cousin of the Canadian transport system. It has to lease its rail right-of-ways and has no control over their condition. While governments have spent billions on new roads, better highways, bigger airports, and new terminals, virtually nothing has been spent on improving our railways. No wonder they can't compete. Yet new forms of rail transit are being built throughout the world which can not only beat the competition but make money as well. . On almost the same day that Mulroney acknowledged that VIA was under the gun, The Globe and Mail ran a story that a consortium of four of Australia's largest companies was considering the construction of a high speed passenger rail system between Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest cities, a distance of 870 kilometres, at a cost of about'$4.5 billion. At 350 km/hr, the trip (about one and a half times the distance from Toronto to Montreal) would take 3 hours. And, of course, its backers would expect it to make money. VIA has been advocating just such a system for the Montreal-Toronto-Ottawa corridor at a cost of about 3 billion. But the government is understandably reluctant to spend that kind of money in times of restraint and nobody is going to buy a business that presently loses $600 million a year and requires a $3 billion investment. But, suppose that the government does shut down VIA. It must still deal with rapidly increasing air trafflc which is already more than the airports can handle. It will have to build more runways (or more airports), and more terminals. (Even if they are built by private enterprise like Terminal 3 at Toronto International, the governments still leases back a large piece of it at direct cost to the taxpayer.) More air traffic controllers and more (and better trained) security personnel will be nèeded - all at government expense. The reality is that air will soon be unable to handle the volume without unnecessary risks and exhorbitant govern- nient expenditure. Rail at the moment is the only high speed pjRMw ROAD FIRE DEPARTMENT WITH EIR NEW HALL, 1956 alterntive.In 1955-56 employees of General Moters who lived in the eastern part of Whlitby Township alternative. Profitable high speed trains have been built in both JapancostuceafRA-i n and France. Why not here? Why not guarantee its success byJiWasnThhalasrpce banebudngn195WhtyAhvepoo eliminating ail directly competing air travel? While solving the air traffic problems and making the skies safer, we could create a two and a half hour downtown to downtown service with trains running probably every hour. 1 ER G It would almost certainly be successful, perhaps toormteWdedaArl1,179eiino h successful. Just think; spend your evening in Montreal. OewrerwsiuednafretthFrsoeTrepntnArl11 Leave Toronte after work at 4, have dinner and a night at*Th WbtyPbiUtlteComsonasrcieanwrdfrnacdntre the theatre and be back home in your own bed by 1 amn. The chief objectors would be the airlines, who (like the bus *wrpae companies who protested when VIA tried te lower its faresChdwihsealpoansfrciien last year) would protest the unfair competition from a subsi- *TeOtroGmatc hiposiswl ehl tIoui akArl2 n 2 dized competitor. The Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor accounts for a major chunk of airline revenues, but unless we restrict air travel in busy corridors, the expense of supervi- 2 ER G sing the chaos, and building new facilities will outstrip the from the Wednsday, April 1, 194 edition of the costof n eficint ail ystm. Tansortis aheailyWHITBY FEE PRES regulated industry and the government has a clear right and Anderson Collegiate student Carol Mackenzie has been named outstanding actress in the a responsibility to ensure that people can move efficiently Kawartha Drama Festival at Port Hope. and safely betwen Canada's largest cities.*Wbitby General Hospital will be a public, not a private institution, says Board of With imagination and investment VIA could also put its GovernorsPresident Dr. J.O. Ruddy. trains back on the tourist map. Trains are a fascination for a lot of people and in recent years, private investors have put the famous Orient Express back on track as a luxury 75 YEARS AGO excursion train across Europe. For nearly a hundred years, from the Thursclay, April 16, 1914 edition ofthe the CPR's transcontinental service, with its stunmng vistas WHffB A NJ) C and a chain of first class hotels, carried that same aura of * The Board of Education wants te build a new two-roomed school at Port Whitby. luxury, comfort and excitement. It could again. * WJ. Luke has sold new Forcs te Judge Theodore McGillivray and John Thompson. Rail travel as we've known it may be dead but a whole * ?lans art going ahead for the spring fair in Vipônd's Field at Brooklin in May. new future is there for those with the imagination to exploit * R. Keith Lawrence of Brookiin is advertising the Columbia Jewel, a cabinet record player, it. VIA Rail may not be worth the $600 million dollars it loses for $55. every year but it is worth the investment of several billion dollars for the future.legiatestudentC arol M ack enzie h as been na m ed outstanding actressin th e