By Cecilia Nasmith
With solid support for the reinstatement of Via Train 651 from a recent survey, supporters of the cause are also invited to show that support in person at a 2 p.m. Friday rally at the Cobourg Via station.
While Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini is expected to make his own announcement of the event, it came up Wednesday at Northumberland County council's Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use Planning standing committee meeting.
The work that has been done toward that and the response has been terrific,” department head Dan Borowec said of the campaign, which has involved municipalities as far east as Kingston in bringing back the train – which stopped in Cobourg at 7 a.m. weekdays, but was discontinued due to a drop in ridership during the pandemic.
“The final report has been put together – it's a great presentation. Activities are in full swing at this point in time, and it's a critical week for us.”
“We have evolved our advocacy at council's request,” Director of Communications Kate Campbell added.
The magnitude of the need for this discontinued train to be reinstated has come through clearly in the survey. This information has been compiled into a presentation that is going out to the Federal government, the Ministry of Transportation, the partner municipalities in the endeavour and, of course, Via's Chief Executive Officer.
And, of course, there is Friday's rally.
“Our hope is to continue to apply pressure to Via about the case for the return of this train and the essential need in our community and in the community of Eastern Ontario,” Campbell said.
“I understand our MPP is meeting with Via next week.”
Meanwhile, Commuter Connect – the on-demand service that will transport local residents to the Oshawa Go station – is still set to launch its pre-trials phase on Sept. 12.
Borowec cited ore than 1,200 survey responses that helped planners determine such mechanics of the service as pick-up points, and plans are being finalized to promote the service.”
Committee head Bob Sanderson praised the approach being taken with Via - “advocacy supported by data is a very good approach, rather than us standing up and demanding what we want like spoiled children.
“The real wish is that they would just go ahead and reinstate the train.”
Sanderson said he'd ridden Via on a couple of recent occasions and found the trains he used were “absolutely packed – I don't understand why they are being so reticent about bringing back this critical service for Northumberland.”
He commended staff on the work they have put into the effort and expressed his hopes for its success. If not, he said, it's time for Plan 2.
“We haven't identified what that would be, but we are not going to stop.”
