The federal transport minister will join local members of parliament and the mayor of London, Ont., for an announcement “on passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario” on Wednesday.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos, London West MP Kate Young and Mayor Ed Holder are set to gather late Wednesday morning.
Specifics of the announcement are not yet known, but it will come on the heels of several other transport-related changes and announcements in the region this year.
In mid-May, Greyhound Canada said it was permanently ending bus service across the country.
Earlier this month, Megabus moved to try to fill some of the gap left by Greyhound’s departure by offering a route between London and downtown Toronto. One-way trips start at $24.99 and add up to more than $60 for a round trip when factoring in taxes, booking fees and potential fees for reserving seats.
As well, Mayor Ed Holder has repeatedly expressed his commitment to improving transportation in the region. In January, he was confirmed as the chair of a provincial task force focused on improving transportation throughout all of southwestern Ontario.
However, London was not part of a significant passenger rail services announcement from Alghabra earlier this month.
On July 6, he announced Ottawa will be launching a procurement process that could see a multi-billion-dollar high-frequency rail corridor operating between Toronto and Quebec City by the end of the decade.
— with files from Global News’ Nick Westoll and Andrew Graham