Kingston City Council unanimously voted to withdraw support for the federal government’s newly announced High Speed Rail (HSR) project, Alto.
The motion to withdraw support, put forward by Mayor Bryan Paterson, stems from changes from Via Rail’s earlier High Frequency Rail (HFR) proposal, which included establishing Kingston as a Regional Hub.
“It’s impacting multiple sectors, business, education, all of those things right now are under a lot of stress, and VIA is just sort of choosing to ignore that we’re one of the largest hubs or possible hubs for transportation,“ stated Counc. Conny Glenn.
The city plans to advocate with other affected municipalities and has requested that Via Rail representatives appear before council to discuss service improvements.
When asked for comment by CFRC, Via Rail stated that their role has shifted to advising, and emphasized that existing routes will not be affected by the new project.
The federal government did not respond to CFRC’s request for comment.
