Glen Murray wanted high-speed rail report for Liberal budget, says consultant
The lead author of a pre-feasibility report on a possible high speed rail line in southwestern Ontario said then-transportation minister Glen Murray asked to him to conduct the study because he who wanted to include the information in it in an upcoming Liberal budget.
Michael Schabas, a partner with the U.K.-based transit consulting firm First Class Partnerships, says he was first contacted early this year about studying a high-speed rail link between Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo and London, Ont.
"I wrote a report in 2013 for the Neptis Foundation reviewing the Big Move Program," said Schabas, referring to Metrolinx's transit plan for on the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. "The report was published in early December 2013. Glen Murray, the minister of transport, read the report and contacted me immediately and asked to meet me the next time I was in Toronto."
"I was in Toronto of February of 2014 and when we met, he asked me if I could do a quick look at high speed rail from Toronto to London, Ontario via Kitchener," said Schabas.
According to documents obtained by CBC News, Schabas began work on a high speed rail report, as well as a report on expanded GO train service on February 12. Schabas submitted a 51-page report on March 11, and another shorter report on environmental and community impacts on March 18.
"[Murray] had a very limited budget for it, which was one of the constraints ministers seem to be under, and he also did say that they were hoping to get something together, if he had something that made sense he would want to try to put it in the budget that was coming up," said Schabas.
According to an email from Schabas to the ministry of transportation, he and his team did "in two weeks what would normally take three to four months."
"[Murray] didn't want a study that would be nice to read but didn't lead to any conclusion, he wanted something with clear conclusions they could consider including the budget," said Schabas of Murray. The high speed rail plan did not make it into the budget, despite the report.
Liberal Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabled the budget on May 1, but an election was triggered after NDP Leader Andrea Horwath announced she wouldn't support it. The Liberals were re-elected on June 12.
Glen Murray was moved from the transportation portfolio to the Ministry of the Environment, and Steven Del Duca became the transportation minister.
CBC tried to contact Murray, but he was not available for comment.
Schabas did elaborate on why he thinks the high speed rail link from London to Toronto would be "unusually easy" to build.
"Compared with, say, the Channel tunnel rail link from London to the Channel tunnel in England? That line ... about one third of it is in tunnel, this line has probably no tunnel. A quarter of what's left is on viaducts on the line in England, we have no real viaducts. The Grand River is the biggest river we cross, and it's not exactly the Saint Lawrence," he said.
Schabas also saud it is likely that very few houses would need to be demolished to make way for the line, maybe 25 or fewer.
"Yes, we go through the Niagara Escarpment, but we do it in a quarry so it's not exactly a pristine environment that's never been touched." he added. "It's good geology, we're not crossing deserts, we're not crossing swamps."
Environmental assessment begins
Last week, Del Duca announced that the environmental assessment for a high speed rail link would begin in January. The assessment will also include Windsor.
A spokesperson for the ministry of transportation elaborated on what the environmental assessment will include in an email to CBC News. The email specifies that studies will:
- Evaluate corridor and route options;
- Evaluate options for stations and maintenance facilities;
- Identify connections with other existing and planned transportation facilities/services;
- Determine expected environmental impacts and proposed mitigation strategies and techniques;
- Develop ridership and revenue forecasts.
The email also specifies that "the results of the various studies, including a business study, will guide Ontario in identifying a high speed rail corridor in the Toronto-Kitchener Waterloo-London-Windsor corridor."