VIA boss aiming to return popular commuter train to southwestern Ontario this fall

Will southern Ontario see improved rail service? The transportation minister and VIA Rail president met with area mayors to discuss improvements to SWO service. Daryl Newcombe reports.

VIA Rail trains 82 and 83 are on track for a return to the Toronto-Brantford-London corridor.

On Thursday, a meeting between Canada’s transport minister, VIA Rail, Metrolinx, and southwestern Ontario mayors yielded immediate results for commuters — and a commitment to improve passenger rail across the region.

The new President and CEO of VIA Rail, Mario Peloquin, emerged from the round table discussion at Western University with a surprise announcement.

“We are going to renew trains number 82 and 83, most likely in the fall. We have a few little t’s to cross and i’s to dot,” Peloquin told CTV News London.

The decision to cut the two trains was a cost-cutting measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The route had provided a critical link for daily commuters.

The train arrived in Toronto before 9 a.m. and returned to London in the early evening.

Recently, an online petition was launched calling for the route to be reinstated.

VIA will have more details about the returning train routes after an agreement is finalized with its infrastructure partners CN Rail and Metrolinx.

“They’ll be in Toronto before 9 a.m., and for London they’ll be back home in the early evening,” Peloquin added.

“It’s something that is important to me personally, and to our government. We will support VIA in whatever they need to make sure that it happens,” committed Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.

“There are so many interconnections between the business community. They rely on Toronto in many ways,” explained Peter Fragiskatos, MP for London North Centre. “Even if they don’t rely on it for business purposes, they want to be able to go see a baseball game or catch a Leafs game.”

After arriving at the train station in London, VIA passenger Orion Boverhof explained why he’d like to see more trains, “As housing gets more expensive in the GTA and people start to live in other places, being able to use the trains to get to work, or to wherever you’re going, is very important.”

The roundtable meeting also focussed on longer-term passenger rail investments.

Alghabra updated CTV News London on progress to bring high-frequency passenger rail service across southwestern Ontario.

“To further connect high frequency rail that we’re building from Quebec City to Toronto, in phase two we want to connect Toronto to southwestern Ontario all the way to Windsor,” he explained.

London Mayor Josh Morgan believes the regional approach adopted by municipalities along VIA’s corridor is showing results.

“This is about regional transportation for southwestern Ontario, and when you talk about transportation in southwestern Ontario, you see London at the centre as an important hub,” he said.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley expressed optimism after three decades fighting for better train service to his community.

“The obligation will be on us to use it, and I’m fine leading the charge to do so. It’s pretty good news,” he said. “We are heading in the right direction.”