As Via Rail officials unveiled how an over $25 million investment will be spent at London Station Tuesday morning, it was confirmed that talks continue regarding the return of early morning service between London, Ont., and Toronto.
Speaking from inside the downtown train station, Rita Toporowski, Via Rail’s chief customer officer, said negotiations between infrastructure partners CN Railway and Metrolinx continue to get trains 82 and 83 back in service.
“Nothing is ever a sure thing, but I’m optimistic that we have the right timing, the right situation and the right selling features to say this is the right time to bring it back,” said Toporowski.
Trains 82 and 83 were discontinued in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The trains were a popular commuter service for the business community, as they arrived in Toronto before 9 a.m. and returned to London in the evening at a reasonable hour. Toporowski said the same schedule would continue once service resumes.
London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos told Global News he has heard loud and clear from the business community there is a desire for the trains to come back.
“(Microsoft) Teams and Zoom, as helpful as they are, are no substitute for one-on-one, in-person interaction, particularly for those in the business community who have to have those relationships,” said Fragiskatos.
Toporowski says that since negotiations continue, there is no definitive date for when trains 82 and 82 would return, but adds they are hopeful for October. The timing would work for them to replace the GO Train pilot project that is set to end on Oct. 13. The pilot project has been running since the fall of 2021, but Metrolinx says agreements with infrastructure partners are resulting in its discontinuation.
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Station upgrades
The confirmation of ongoing negotiations over trains 82 and 83 came during an event where Via Rail officially unveiled how $25 million will be spent at London Station, the fourth busiest train station in the country.
As first reported by Global News on Friday, the investments are centred around upgrades to the structure of the station and refurbishments to improve user experience.
The upgrades are broken into four phases, with the first two already complete. Phases 1 and 2 focused on structural and civil updates to the building and were completed in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Phase 3, which is set to get underway later this month, will see a complete replacement of the passenger platform. Phase 4 will focus on interior refurbishments to make the station easier to navigate and more sustainable; those upgrades will begin next year and be completed by 2025.
London Mayor Josh Morgan told Global News that with construction on the downtown loop continuing and demand with post-secondary students growing, the investments are imperative to improving user experience.
“I finally feel we are on the verge of having that modern station with all the investments that are necessary to respect the tremendous importance this location has to transportation in southwestern Ontario,” said Morgan.
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