Will Cochrane be Northlander's destination?
jpg, TP  Article content Even with the news that the Northlander may be coming back to the north, there is no guarantee that Cochrane will be the northern terminal for the proposed night train. The present business case does not have a firm decision on where the train will start/end in the region. Corina Moore, President and CEO of Ontario Northland Railway was invited to address members of Council and the community regarding the recent announcement of the possibility of the passenger train being re-instated. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser. Back to video First of all, thank you very much for allowing me to join your meeting, she said as she began her presentation, I feel like it has been a long time coming since I have been involved with the Cochrane council meeting and I appreciate the opportunity to give a wholesome update not just about passenger rail, even though I know that that is top of mind.  Moore gave a brief discussion on the importance of the ONR to the town. It has been almost 120 years that the railway has been a part of the community. Currently there is about 130 employees and 103 pensioners in town. The business provides a significant economic impact on the community. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content She said that with the refurbishing being done in North Bay, Cochrane has increased their work load and she expects that rail will be around for a least another 100 years in the community. We are the largest short line in Canada. We have 700 miles of track and we continue to have little spurs based on businesses opportunities across the system. She told council that since 2014 the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) has evolved considerably with the expansion of the bus network, ensuring a new bus fleet that is accessible and fitted with wi-fi supporting rural Ontario and connecting them to Toronto and Ottawa. She added that part of the expansion is the partnership with universities, colleges and hospitals to help communities attract students and support medical appointments for those living in the north. This is all about a prosperous north, how do we provide services that are going to attract people with tourism but also attract people to the north that are going to work and live here. As we know people are leaving Toronto and, finally, it is the other way around and we want to make sure we provide the services that people need when they move to the north, she said. The ONTC was placed under the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) umbrella on April 1, 2020 and since then they have been working on expanding their services. They are also focusing on filling gaps made by the closure of the Grey Hound bus service in the province as well. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Moore said that the pandemic has made it an incredible year and a half. I couldnt be more proud of how Ontario Northland responded to the pandemic. We immediately changed everything. We added cleaning, social distancing, reduced seating on all of our passenger services, mandatory face covering and screening. The Polar Bear Express has temperature checks and an isolation coach. I am proud of the compassion and the health and safety that we have with our employees and our passengers, she commented.Certainly, it impacted our bottom line  all of our passenger services went down 60-90% depending on where it was being offered. We, as an agency, were suggesting people stay home and stay safe. On our rail freight side, however, you will see we were fairly steady and our revenue was great and we helped move goods across the country. She then address council with how the community and the ONTC work together. I hope that this conversation leads to more dialogue and seeing how we can support one another and really feeling like Cochrane supports us as a transportation agency in what we need to fulfill our mandate. We want to work with you to attract rail freight customers and how we can attract new business. She touched on the tourism sector and stated that the government is going to do a big push on Ontario staycations and hoped to work together to help in post COVID recovery. Moore told council What more can we do together and how can we both feel that we are fully supported with the impact that we have in Cochrane. I think we are the largest employer in Cochrane if not one of the largest employers in the community so that we can continue to increase the skilled jobs here,  Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content She said there is sometimes issue with attracting and retaining people in competition with the mines so the ONTC has started some apprenticeship programs. We are doing our part to attract people to live and work in the area, she noted. She then lead into the passenger services side of ONTC. We all know that passengers service hasnt been running for almost a decade now. It is not going to be the same  imagine the modern services we are going to be providing  wifi, new equipment that we didnt have before, an appropriate schedule that allows people to get from the north into Toronto in late morning so that they can do their medical appointment, business meetings, shopping and then return at night. One of the things that I want to make sure we all understand is it is a regional train service we are pushing so hard and advocating for and what the return of this service means in rural Ontario. Any community that is not on the rail line for the Northlander will be supported through an enhanced bus service and making sure there is the door to door service.  She informed council that for the last year the ONTC has been working on a business case and partnered with Metro-Links who is the other provincial transportation agency. They looked at six options in the Initial Business Case (IBC). It resulted in the selection of option six which was going from downtown Toronto, through North Bay and terminating in Timmins or Cochrane. I would recommend that as a council look at the business case at our website because it is comprehensive. It shows you all of the things that we looked at in terms of the financial aspects, the decision making, services we looked at, the long term capital and operating. Having said that, that is high level compared to what we are going to do now. What we are going to do now is dive in and create the updated business case. What this process does and what the recent budget announcement for $5 million is going to do is confirm the cost of everything. One of the things to make this successful is the one-time performance.  Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Moore told council that one of the biggest concerns for ridership was how fast the train can get from the north to downtown Toronto. She said that is why some of the communities that used to be serviced no longer have a stop but will be augmented by the bus service. This process will allow us to go into the communities to talk about decisions that were made in the IBC and make sure we have the right model and all those discussion will be incorporated into the updated business case. I will cut right to the chase  when we look at the terminating points of Cochrane and Timmins a financial analysis is going to happen. It will look at what infrastructure is already in place and what isnt, is there a difference in the ridership and therefore the operating dollars that is going to be required for each option. I believe that the north needs this as quickly as possible. Right now, government has said that they are going to make a decision after this updated business case which is going to be done by next March when the spring budget comes out.  She said that the ONTC is currently scouring North America for the right cars so there is some critical paths on the procurement side that will take some time. That will determine how long it will take to implement each milestone. Moore also told council that collaboration within the communities make both parties prosperous. She said that councils need to get on board to create awareness of bus and rail services, parcel express and utilize those services through their municipalities. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content If we do well and our bottom line reaches our goal then we get more confidence from government and then we can continue to expand and grow. They really want to support the north with transportation and all that that means. We ask for your help. Councillor Belisle asked about some of the small communities not on the ONTC service map. Our role is to look at these and tell the MTO if you really want an integrated network that supports these communities they have to look into that. This year we will be focusing on those gaps. When I discuss business data, I dont mean that we break even, because in most cases it doesnt  nor can it. It doesnt mean that we dont need the service, it means that we probably deserve it more because there is no connectivity and there is no other options and people dont want to drive in the winter. With more baby boomers and seniors they shouldnt be on the highway we should provide them with a safe, comfortable and reliable service. That will be our proposition to the MTO because it will require more capital and buses. But, I hear that message from MTO that they want to create that integrated service. She also noted that they may partner with private shuttle services as well. She said that they want to have a program in place that would allow any senior in the north access to things like health care in southern Ontario with a smooth transition from place to place. If we can see the evolution we may be able to get it into our business models as well.  Moore said that they need as much information from affected communities because ultimately, it is the MTOs decision where the stops will be. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Our role is to provide information for decision making, she said. Councillor Robert Hutchinson asked about the infrastructure evaluation that would be considered for decision factor of which community would get to be a destination such as Cochrane or Timmins. Moore said that some of that has been completed. There has been a track study and financial data that would include the cost of going into Timmins vs the cost of going to Cochrane. Obviously the track is already in Cochrane and the station facility is already in place in Cochrane where there would be a build necessary in Timmins. A lot of that work has actually already been done. We will dig into it a little more and take it into the next level. Councillor Hutchinson said We have all the infrastructure here as it was an a destination in the past, it wouldnt cost the taxpayers a whole lot of money to bring the train back into Cochrane. Moore said that the IBC takes into consideration the financial side. Those are the types of things that we want to dig into to see and make sure we get the right service. Mayor Denis Clement told Moore that council would indeed have a brainstorming session to determine the towns plan of action. He said they have already started to look for support from other northern communities. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content We know that the ONR is extremely important in our community, said the mayor. We will be advocating very hard that we continue with passenger rail coming back to Cochrane in the future. We know that it will take some time to implement, said Moore But, we have a lot of really great services and initiatives that could grow Cochrane and Ontario Northland. You are the second largest community after North Bay we are focused on. It isnt all about passenger rail  there is some really good things that we should spend some time on as well because those will be jobs in Cochrane for life. When you are brainstorming dont forget all the other stuff that is important. While the prospect of opening the north for more transportation opportunities is encouraging, the final outcome may not be known for a little while yet and, in the meantime, if the Northlander is to return to Cochrane, there needs to be some lobbying done. Share this article in your social network        Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. News Near Cochrane