Ottawa to invest $300-million in Via Rail
Toronto - Ottawa has earmarked $300-million in stimulus money for Via Rail, Thursday, which will be going towards upgrading tracks and increasing train speed on the busy Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal line.
The federal government hopes this will provide some incentive to convince people to ride the rails.
The Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal route is an important one for Via Rail, but it's been plagued with delays.
"We can create jobs today, and provide faster, safer, more reliable and more frequent passenger rail transportation for many years to come," said Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear, who made the announcement at Union Station.
The money, which is coming from the economic stimulus plan, will be used to create several improvements, the most important of which will be a third set of tracks. It will be added to certain point along the line and will allow trains to pass each other and reduce bottlenecks.
But, the most important part of the project is the creation of jobs. Federal officials said it will help to boost Canada's economy.
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