Larry's Corner

VIA Rail: Easy Come, Easy GO!!!

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted March 31, 2008)

Several years ago, Hamilton had a golden opportunity to re-introduce VIA Rail train service back into Hamilton. Tony Valeri was the Transportation Minister and later House Leader. I was the Mayor of the City of Hamilton. I was also on the GO Transit Board of Directors by virtue of my position in the city. All of us, including VIA Rail management, agreed that it should come back to Hamilton. I know that GO was also interested in expanding its service to the city and was making plans to do just that. In order for VIA to come back, all the city had to do was agree on a location for the station, which would have been built with Federal dollars. But not just any location, as it turned out. It had to be a location which agreed with VIA’s desire to grow its business. In other words VIA was really dictating the location of their train station even though the city was given an opportunity for input. That notion was clear to me.

And that became the sticking point. VIA management did not want to come to downtown Hamilton because it was only minutes away from their Aldershot destination. They preferred a location further east along the rail line, so they could grow their customer base rather than simply moving it from Aldershot to downtown.

VIA staff looked at a number of possible locations and indicated that somewhere near the soon to be constructed Red Hill Valley Parkway, near the QEW would best suit their needs and those of the city. GO had also talked about that same area as a possible stop for them as they expanded service into the Niagara area. I saw the possibilities of a real hub of road and rail travel in this part of the city.

I, along with the Federal Minister, was happy to see VIA return to Hamilton. It didn’t matter to me whether it came downtown or further east. It was just important to see the service returned. So what happened? Why, if there was agreement on the part of VIA and the Federal Minister, did VIA not land in Hamilton after all these years?

It was parochial politics that killed the deal. The downtown Councillor, for perhaps altruistic reasons, wanted to see VIA downtown and nowhere else. He enlisted the help of a hand picked committee approved by Council to ‘study’ the optimum location. The city hired ‘consultants’, one of whom now works for the city, to provide reasons why the downtown location is best. Reports were produced and discussed. Graphs were analyzed. Arguments were had. Great rationales as to why the downtown location was preferred were given. Motions were passed by Council and passed on to VIA. Opposition MP’s were brought into the discussion, supporting the downtown location. The politics worked beautifully to ensure that downtown would be the site of the new VIA station. There was only one problem. The decision-maker, VIA staff, did not agree with all of this input from the very beginning and told us so.

VIA told us in very clear terms that it would be a clear, winning business plan, not politics, that would guide the decision. The Federal Minister, the opposition MP’s, the local Councillor, the citizen committee, the Mayor all could stand on their heads and shout ‘downtown’, but it would not influence VIA whose mandate was to service the city and grow its business. Downtown did not make sense to them. An eastern location did. Simple and clear.

So, I was very pleased the other day when the province announced $3M for a downtown station at LIUNA. GO would stop there and VIA would also join the offering. I was thrilled. Finally, I thought, VIA had seen the light and reversed its previous messages. Some magic had been worked, I figured. Now I am disappointed to find out that VIA is still not interested in the downtown location.

“ The James Street location just isn’t conducive to us to serve our customers, so we will continue to serve the Hamilton area through Aldershot and Grimsby,” said Via Rail spokesperson Catherine Kaloutsky. (The Spectator)

Like the Lister Block redevelopment, another golden opportunity has been lost by the city because reason and practicality were trumped by the blind pursuit of the improbable. Too bad! I hope that VIA will revisit its decision but it may be too late for many years to come. And we only have ourselves and our penchant for shooting ourselves in the political foot to blame!

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