The World - News from Oct. 5, 1989

Canada will cut its leading passenger train service in half next year as a money-saving measure, officials said. The announcement by Transport Minister Benoit Bouchard upset opposition lawmakers, who said it means the death of the government-run service known as Via Rail. Bouchard said the cuts will allow the government to reduce its annual Via Rail subsidies, now at $640 million, to $350 million by 1993. Via Rail said that of a total of about 7,300 employees, 2,761 will lose their jobs, mainly in 1990. The cuts will leave Via Rail operating three weekly trains linking central Canada with the East and West coasts, a major chunk of its existing Quebec-Ontario corridor trains, a couple of regional routes and eight remote services.