Diesel…seriously?

With construction slotted to begin this spring, debate has been aggressive in recent days about the express Air Rail Link (ARL) from downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport.  Debate fumes mainly over anticipated cost, number of stops included on the line and the use of diesel powered trains. Yes DIESEL - seriously?

I know how hard it is just to run my  small business so I don’t have any delusions about being able to solve the problems of a the 2^nd largest province in Canada let alone manage a deficit budget in the billions of dollars (17.7 billion to be exact). But DIESEL - seriously?

Now don’t get me wrong, we need this train.  If anything it is embarrassingly overdue (30 years overdue).  Smaller, less popular convention destinations across the world have had some sort of mass transit to their airports for decades. Surely with so much time to create and apply a plan, more forethought could have been applied to develop a proposal to implement all-electric trains in time for the Pan Am Games, instead of the proposed electrification 5 years after the fact. The giant concrete supports for the platform that would greet these incoming trains have been in place at Pearson Airport since 2004. There has been nothing but time - to conduct studies, environmental impact assessments, project viable timelines and even encourage constructive debate across political arenas.  So DIESEL - seriously?

When completed, travel time between Union Station and Pearson will be approximately 25 minutes. I am sensible enough to recognize that solar power and wind turbines and magical fairy dust made from millions of tons of garden compost won’t be able to reach those speeds. But DIESEL - seriously?

I do know that Ontario is a global leader in renewable energy and environmental efficiency – the province supports over 2,800+ environmental industry companies that generate approximately $7 billion in revenue employs 65,000 people.  So DIESEL - seriously?

I am open to comments on this one –

Hope my “Free Idea” makes your Friday!

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