The Township of South Frontenac has become the first municipality to officially, and unanimously, vote against being included in a high-speed rail line corridor between Quebec City and Toronto.
One of the recently released potential route options that Alto, the crown corporation responsible for the rail line, would see the train’s corridor passing directly through South Frontenac Township – which landowners and environmentalists of the area have said is an unsuitable plan.
On Tuesday night South Frontenac’s council stood behind those concerns, voting unanimously in favour of a motion to reject Alto’s projected Southern Ontario corridor – saying instead that it makes more sense to route a train within the boundaries of the City of Kingston.
South Frontenac Township’s mayor, Ron Vandewal, says while he worried that Kingston’s own mayor, Bryan Paterson, would push for support of Alto’s southern proposal, the two are aligned.
“The south proposal was never on the agenda when it was proposed to this council in December,” Vandewal said.
“All that the discussion was was the northern corridor… if there’s a southern route and its serving the larger municipality, which is the city of Kingston, it needs to go through the city of Kingston.”
The motion was moved to the top of Tuesday night’s agenda with mostly negative feedback being heard from constituents who said it would disrupt their rural community and natural environment.
The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network said they too have fielded a bevy of concerns around a potential impact to the UNESCO protected site.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Vandewal says the southern option would limit access to main roads and break up land for some individuals.
He said planning the route through the Township would bring nothing positive to the region.
“There’s no economic benefit to South Frontenac other than to destroy the environment,” Vandewal said.
“They’re cutting places in half… it’ll be devastating for generations if this thing goes through here.”
Vandewal said that he was told by Kingston’s Bryan Paterson that unless a corridor would service Kingston with a stop in the area, then they too are not interested in supporting the proposal, and a motion planned to go in front of council at an upcoming meeting will say just that.
As of now, while Alto’s southern option would bring the train’s path closer to Kingston, there is no option that would see a stop in Kingston, with Ontario stops planned for Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto.
Currently, people in Kingston seeking rail service can choose options with VIA rail, however some services offered in the region by the company have been in jeopardy recently.
According to an email sent to a constituent from Lanark-Frontenac MP Scott Reid, either high speed rail option will lead to lower VIA Rail ridership and inevitably, cuts to service through Kingston and other towns in southeastern Ontario being negatively impacted.
“It is highly likely that the high-speed rail service would result in the end of the existing Via Rail service that passes through Kingston, Smiths Falls, and other centres along the existing Via rail line,” an email from Reid stated.
“The promoters of the Alto project may suggest otherwise, but as a practical matter, all commuters who are seeking to go from Montreal or Ottawa to Toronto will choose the faster Alto train, and will thereby strip away at least three quarters of Via’s passenger traffic.”
Reid says in the email that it will render VIA “financially untenable” after already posting significant losses in recent years.
Alto says the services of VIA rail will eventually be integrated with the high speed rail line, and the creation of such “offers the opportunity to improve services on these existing rail routes so as to better address local needs”.
The crown corporation says of the two options proposed for the corridor, the northern route would provide a more direct trip with lower travel time but required work in remote and sensitive areas, while the southern option provides more simplified construction and operations.
Alto will be in South Frontenac hosting a public information session at the Storrington Lions Club on February 18
Mayor Vandewal said he told Alto representatives that the information session is “a little late”, and expects no change in community perspective on the proposal.
