In an news column appearing in this week’s NOW Magazine (June 13, 2013), former TTC Chair Adam Giambrone writes that the current plan for the Air Rail Link is a huge missed opportunity for delivering daily transit to this part of the city.

Voicing his support of Jonah Schein’s re-mounted “Clean Trains Bill” (see post below), Giambrone urges the Ontario Liberal government to scrap the self-imposed Pan Am Games deadline for completing of the Air Rail Link, and focus on electrifying the line now.

You can read the full article online here.

UPDATE: Jonah needs your support to make this bill a reality!
Please add your name to his petition here.

We are delighted that the NDPs “Clean Trains Bill” is back on the agenda at Queen’s Park!

Please read the following statement from Jonah Schein, MPP (Davenport) from June 5, 2013:

Today I reintroduced my Private Members Bill to push forward electrification of the Union Pearson Express Air Rail Link.

The Liberal government’s decision to run diesel trains on this line has drawn widespread criticism both for the negative health impacts it will have on our community and on our air quality… and because it will fail to ease gridlock and move people effectively in our city.

For years, our west end community has called for immediate electrification on the line.

In an article written this week for Huffington Post Canada, world-renown environmentalist David Suzuki weighed in on the electrification debate.

While recognizing the need for infrastructure improvements in our region, Suzuki openly criticized the decision to use diesel technology in this heavily-populated corridor.

[A] proposal to use diesel trains for the Air-Rail-Link plan to connect downtown Toronto with its international airport in Mississauga is concerning. A rapid transit link with the airport is long overdue, but heavy diesel trains emit particulates and other contaminants, including known carcinogens. The proposed rail line would be close to dozens of schools and daycare centres, several long-term care facilities and a chronic respiratory care hospital.

We’re delighted to have Suzuki on-board with our vision for healthy and progressive transportation infrastructure! You can read the full article here.

Public Open House: UP Express Electrification Environmental Assessment (EA)

As part of the Environmental Assessment (EA) process, Metrolinx is holding a series of Public Open Houses to share a project update, and seek feedback on the following:

Overview of Conceptual Design for Union Pearson (UP) Express Electrification:

Traction Power Supply
Traction Power Distribution
Maintenance Requirements
Overview of EA Studies
Next Steps

We need Clean Train supporters at these meetings!

Note the following dates:

Monday, June 10, 2013
Metro Hall
Room 314
55 John Street
Toronto, ON M5V 3C6
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Mimico Presbyterian Church
119 Mimico Avenue
Etobicoke, ON M8V 1R6
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Mount Dennis Legion
1050 Weston Road
Toronto, ON M6N 3S2
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

NOW Magazine has called this event one of their “can’t-miss” events of the week.

Come find out why! Meet your neighbours and friends, enjoy the music, and help make our neighbourhood a better place for everyone!

Featuring live performances by:
* RISE
* Andrew Cash
* Pelham Community Hub Youth
* Ze Fua

Friday April 5th, 6:30pm
Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre
1900 Davenport Road (at Symington)

All are welcome!

We hope to see you there!

As we know, the political decision-making around the Union-Pearson Rail Link sits at the Provincial level, however the impacts are distinctly local, with health ramifications placed on the residents of the municipal wards lining the rail corridor.

In a demonstration of solidarity against the use of proposed diesel engines to service the Union-Pearson link, a group of councillors representing the most-affected wards petitioned the Liberal Minister of Transportation, Glen Murray, to put a stop to the planned use of diesel engines and immediately dedicate funds to making the corridor run on clean electric technology from day 1. (Click on the letter below to enlarge)

We need more and more of you to follow the example of this group councillors, and contact the Minister of Transportation, voicing your similar concerns. The Minister’s contact info is as follows:

We enthusiastically invite you to a public event, hosted by our friends at the West Bend Community Association, featuring a discussion from our lawyer Saba Ahmad, on the progress of our legal challenge against Metrolinx’s ill-conceived plans for using diesel trains for the Union Pearson Express.

Please find details below (click on image to enlarge or download a copy here).

We hope to see you there!

For more information on the West Bend Community Association, visit thewestbend.ca.

The Auditor General of Ontario this week revealed that he has serious concerns about Metrolinx’s plans for the Premier’s Air Rail Link: fares are too expensive and not enough passengers. It is time for a rethink!

Read the Auditor General’s report here.

The Clean Train Coalition suggests the whole line be redesigned as the downtown west relief line, built as electric so it can stop and start quickly, with more neighbourhood stations and better connections with TTC lines. This way it can be used by more riders to get more places, and more ridership means more fare box revenue.

UPDATED

For immediate release, December 4, 2012

The Clean Train Coalition is seeking leave to appeal a recent decision of the Ontario Divisional Court to deny access to justice for claims based on the right to a healthy environment. The Coalition was not entitled to argue its case challenging the Metrolinx plan to run diesel trains on the air rail link from Union Station to Pearson Airport.

Saba Ahmad, CTC legal counsel, says the Coalition is concerned that fundamental issues of natural justice are at stake.

“The Divisional Court basically said its doors are closed to citizens seeking protection against decisions by government agencies that may cause harm to health or the environment. We cannot let this decision go uncontested.” The court awarded costs against the Coalition of $30 thousand, an amount beyond the means of a volunteer group.

The Clean Train Coalition got its day in court on November 19th and presented a strong case that Metrolinx violated statutory requirements by deciding to run diesel trains on the air rail link without conducting a feasibility study on electrification as an alternative. CTC legal counsel Saba Ahmad argued before a panel of three judges in Ontario Divisional Court in support of an application for judicial review of the Metrolinx diesel plan.

In her submission, Ms. Ahmad argued that Metrolinx “traded the benefits of electric trains for expediency” when it accepted instructions from the McGuinty government to have the air rail link operating in time for the Pan Am Games in 2015. “Metrolinx is not authorized to prioritize the short-term goal of providing transportation services for a three-week sporting event over the long-term health, environmental and economic interests of the people of Ontario.”

The court reserved its decision.

What is this I hear about a wall?

Metrolinx, the Provincial Government agency that runs GO Transit and the proposed Air Rail Link (ARL), is planning to build a 5 metre tall noise barrier wall along the Kitchener Rail Corridor.

The Metrolinx diesel noise wall will be 5-meters high, shown here in a mock-up built by Kevin Putnam of the Junction Triangle Rail Committee.

Why is the barrier needed?

In fact, Metrolinx own study shows that the noise barrier will not yet be needed in all areas of the corridor, yet they are being installed along the entire length as part of the expanded rail service between Union Station and Pearson Airport. Modeling has shown that this new service will have a minimal impact on noise levels. The trains for the ARL service use smaller engines in each car to power the train, unlike the GO trains that have one huge locomotive. The ARL trains are also less than one fifth the size of the GO trains. The proposed ARL cars have engines similar in power to those in transport trucks.

About 250 residents joined the Rally for Clean Trains Now! on a rainy day in October to send a message to Metrolinx and the provincial government that now is the time to switch tracks and build an electric air rail link between Union Station and the airport.

photo via insidetoronto.com

The community parade assembled at the West Toronto Railpath at Wallace Ave. and took to the sidewalks along Bloor and down Roncesvalles, heading toward Sorauren Park for the rally and festivities.

Speakers included federal, provincial, municipal and school board elected officials (no representatives of the Liberal or Conservative parties showed up) and numerous community activists, including Saba Ahmad, the lawyer who has been leading the court action against the decision by Metrolinx to put diesel trains on the air rail link without studying the feasibility of electrification.

Details:

1:00pm: Assemble on the West Toronto Railpath, at Wallace Avenue (northwest of Bloor and Lansdowne) – Bring noise-making casserole pots and banners!

Parade: Along Bloor, down Roncesvalles

2:00pm: Rally for Clean Trains, Sorauren Park – featuring performances by special guests, information booths, speakers and festivities.

Please share this event with your friends, family, neighbours and community groups!

Download a copy of the flyer here.

Join the Facebook event page.

August 17, 2012

“Listen to our communities,” was the message delivered to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty from a collection of thirteen elected representatives from communities along the Air Rail Link corridor in a letter sent to his office earlier today.

Showing strong bipartisan cooperation, the signatories of the letter – a range of MPs, MPPs and Toronto City Councillors – are calling on Premier McGuinty to attend a town hall meeting before September 7th to discuss the issue openly and in public.

Read the full letter here.

August 8, 2012

Clean Train Coalition seeks Judicial Review to stop diesel trains
Metrolinx unlawfully constrained by Pan Am Games

(Toronto) The Clean Train Coalition has filed an application with the Ontario Divisional Court requesting a Judicial Review of the decision by Metrolinx to put diesel trains along the air rail link (ARL) between Union Station and Pearson airport.

The application seeks an order to quash the Metrolinx ARL diesel project on the basis that the regional transit agency unlawfully fettered its authority to consider an electric alternative to diesel by accepting instructions from the government of Ontario to construct the ARL in time for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

(cont’d)

Click here to read the full News Release

Click here to view a copy of the Application for Judicial Review

August 7, 2012

Clean Train Coalition launches legal challenge to diesel trains

The Clean Train Coalition will hold a media briefing tomorrow, Wednesday, August 8th, to release details of a legal challenge to the decision by Metrolinx to run diesel trains along the air rail link between Union Station and Pearson airport.

CTC chair Rick Ciccarelli and legal counsel Saba Ahmad will release documents filed with the Ontario Divisional Court at 11am at the Toronto Railpath footbridge at Wallace Ave., north of Bloor and west of Lansdowne.

The Clean Train Coalition is a community-based public interest group advocating for smart investment in public transit infrastructure.

Where: Toronto Railpath Footbridge
Wallace Ave, west of Lansdowne Ave, three blocks north of Bloor

When: 11am, Wednesday, August 8th

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rick Ciccarelli
m. 647-233-7624
rick-twx@sympatico.ca

July 31, 2012

The summer of 2012 has been a time of renewal for the Clean Train Coalition. At a general meeting of members and supporters on July 18th, a number of important decisions were made, including the critical step of incorporating as a non-profit organization.

An interim Board of Directors was acclaimed with a mandate to adopt by-laws and to convene a first annual general meeting within six months. The meeting also instructed the new board to give consideration to all legal options that might be available as part of the ongoing campaign to stop diesel trains and to go electric.

The new Board will be developing a fundraising and education campaign for September to support any legal action that may be underway.