Larry's Corner

VIA Rail Part 2: We’ve Been Fooled Again!

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted April 3, 2008)

Last week I wrote about a missed opportunity to bring VIA back to the city of Hamilton. I attributed this loss to a well-intentioned but misguided political dream. This morning I read in the local paper that VIA is indeed stopping downtown after all. The Corporation has re-thought its position and will accommodate the city by using the downtown LIUNA location as a local stop. I am pleased by this turn of events and want to congratulate VIA for its reversal. I am also certain that VIA did not change its mind all by itself. I am sure that the Mayor’s office, the downtown Councillor’s office and the local Tory MPs probably had a hand in ensuring that the VIA decision did not become a Federal election issue. So we should all be happy, right?

Not so fast. Think about it. When VIA stated that they would service Hamilton from Aldershot and Grimsby, we had a golden opportunity to do some strategic thinking and really put the squeeze on the national rail service to do right by Hamilton. Instead we gave them the easy way out. Follow my thinking.

VIA had earlier committed to coming back to the city, albeit at a more easterly location. Stoney Creek has been mentioned and the site near the current Holiday Inn Hotel, just off the Highway and near Centennial has been publicly named as an area of interest. In fact, I know that the city owns much of the land in that location near the railroad tracks. It is the site formerly occupied by the ill-fated SWARU plant, now long demolished. VIA officials thought that this site might work. The city of Hamilton has some plans to utilize this site for a recycling operation, but in my mind a more fitting legacy to the SWARU incinerator would not be more recycling. However, there is enough room to have accommodated both uses.

Knowing this information, what Council might have done is press the point with VIA to spend federal dollars and continue with its eastern commitment for a VIA rail stop. This approach would have captured commuters for VIA and GO who now use the highway system to travel to Toronto and Niagara. These riders would be commuters from the east mountain or the eastern part of the city who would not naturally go to Aldershot or downtown to use rail. If they are so inclined they might now go to Burlington or Oakville for GO/VIA or Grimsby for VIA. More than likely, they stay in their cars and clog up our already grid-locked highway system.

How could VIA who has been on the record as preferring this location have said ‘NO’? They would have been compelled to agree.

What would this have accomplished? The Province is spending money on a GO station at LIUNA. The Feds would have spent money on a VIA station at the Centennial site. GO would gladly stop at the centennial site using the Federal station, and VIA could, I’m sure, be persuaded to stop at the LIUNA site using the Provincial station. A nice quid pro quo!

We would have had the best of all possible worlds. As it is, those looking for short-term solutions will applaud the VIA decision. They are happy. LIUNA has got to be happy receiving rent from GO and VIA. VIA is happy because the downtown option costs them no capital dollars. The downtown Councillor has got to be thrilled because he really pushed hard for this to happen.

So who is the loser in all of this? The city as a whole is, but primarily the eastern part because it is going to miss out on a rail hub in the east end. As well, the road system, transit enthusiasts and the environment are getting the short end of this transportation stick as the result of this decision.

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