OCC Announces Support for High-Frequency Rail Project

OCC Announces Support for High-Frequency Rail Project

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has published a letter to the Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport, in support of the High-Frequency Rail project in Ontario. The project, as currently planned, will offer over 1000km of brand-new rail infrastructure along the Toronto-Quebec corridor allowing faster and more frequent rail service. By moving passenger services to dedicated tracks, the new trains will no longer be significantly delayed by freight trains that have priority on our current rail infrastructure. This also means that the freight network will no longer have to work around the passenger lines either, freeing up the network for more freight capacity in the province. More freight capacity in Ontario means improved supply chains and a boost to the Canadian economy. More efficient transportation across the province would also lead to more business investments along the corridor and would support local tourism. As the population in Ontario continues to increase, the ridership of this project is expected to reach 17 million by 2059 (https://hfr-tgf.ca/faq/). By offering a more environmentally friendly alternative to driving or flying, the HFR project will ensure that Ontario’s workforce can commute more efficiently. While the London Chamber of Commerce also supports this initiative, we would like to highlight the importance of extending this project through to the Windsor-Toronto corridor including London and many other economically significant cities in South Western Ontario.

To read the full letter from the OCC, please visit: https://occ.ca/wp-content/uploads/OCC-Letter-Supporting-HFR.pdf