(BlackburnNews.com file photo)(BlackburnNews.com file photo)
Midwestern

Save VIA Wants Answers From Elected Officials

The Save Via Campaign has now taken to YouTube to appeal to residents to question elected officials about the future of Via.

Two of the videos shot in St. Marys take aim at federal policy, while one questions the Ontario government.

It asks why Ontario would spend billions of tax dollars on its own passenger rail line from Toronto to Windsor, that would bypass southwestern Ontario towns including St. Marys and Stratford.

It suggests the new service would compete with the national service, and could spell the end of VIA service to local towns

It questions why the provincial and federal governments don't work together to provide efficient affordable service.

The campaign also questions why Amtrak in the US has legislated rights to fair and affordable access to the tracks of freight railways, while VIA has no such protection.

The third video calls out the federal government for inadequate funding, leaving VIA with the oldest fleet of cars and locomotives in the industrialized world.

It says Amtrack in the United States is purchasing 1,500 new rail cars and 400 locomotives to increase passenger service coast to coast.

It calls on residents to question their MPP and MP about Canada's struggling passenger train service.

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