Canadian Plan for Railway Cuts Stirs Opposition

Opposition leaders today pledged to fight government plans to halve Canada’s passenger train service next year, saying it would destroy the government-run service known as Via Rail.

“They have turned the national dream into a national nightmare,” John Turner, leader of the opposition Liberal Party, said. “The last spike has become the last straw.”

Ed Broadbent, leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party, estimated that about 13,000 direct and indirect jobs would be lost in the restructuring of routes.

The long-awaited announcement Wednesday in Ottawa was part of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s program intended to trim the budget deficit. Officials said they are willing to hear offers from the private sector to take over any route, especially those attractive to tourists.

Transport Minister Benoit Bouchard said the cuts to be made Jan. 15 will allow the government to reduce its annual Via Rail subsidies, now at $640 million, to $350 million by 1993.

$85 Subsidy for Each Trip

The government has been paying an $85 subsidy for every train journey taken, more than the price of hiring a car for the day.

Via Rail trains will travel the breadth of the country only three times a week, robbing many tourists of the chance to cross the flat expanses of the prairie before plunging through the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast.

“I am sorry we cannot afford anything more for a system Canadians use less and less,” Bouchard told a news conference.

The government hopes that the private sector will jump in to take over some discontinued routes, and provide financing for a high-speed train to serve the densely populated corridor between Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

Rail freight service, operated by two separate companies, is not affected by the announcement.