Belleville VIA Rail makes changes

BELLEVILLE, ONT. (23/01/12) A man waits for the 3:15 p.m. VIA Rail train en route to Toronto, at the Belleville train station, which is currently under renovations. VIA Rail is adding a number of trains to the schedule, starting on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Photo by Rebecca Rempel.

By Mallory Haigh

The city of Belleville is one step closer to having a new accessible and modern train station.

J.J. McGuire General Contractors of Pickering, under contract with Via Rail, has almost completed construction on the $7-million train station and line upgrade. The station is expected to be open by the end of March.

The original station at 222 Station St. was built in 1856, and was designated a National Historical Site of Canada in 1973.

In 2007, after Via launched the Via Rail Capital Investment program to overhaul and modernize rail travel in Canada, the Belleville stop was slated for the construction of a new station to better meet the needs of travellers.

Among accessibility and environmentally-friendly upgrades, the new station will change the overall way passengers are moved on and off the trains. The use of elevators on both sides of the new loading platform, as well as energy efficient lighting and heating systems, make the building a modern upgrade to its historical counterpart.

Steven Metcalf, J.J. McGuire’s construction manager for the Belleville project, expects construction to be completed in early February.

“We will then turn things over to Via,” Metcalf explained.

“The biggest design change we have been tasked with is to install a central platform. This enables passengers to load from three lanes rather than one, and is much more efficient in terms of moving people,” Metcalf said.

Via Rail Ontario spokesman Malcolm Andrews added that construction is on time.

“Once we take over from the contractors, the station will be open for business in March,” he said. “We are exactly on our $7-million budget.”

The new station development is also part of the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the economic stimulus plan designed to create jobs as well as improve infrastructure throughout the country.

A new building and renovated tracks aren’t the only thing expected to change with the new station, however. When Via announced its Capital Investment Program, the corporation also indicated train schedules would change.

According to Andrews, commuter trains to and from Toronto will remain unchanged.

“One of the biggest changes that affects Belleville is that the late train to Montreal will only go as far as Kingston,” he said, noting that all changes will come into effect today.

For students and commuters who use the train as a main source of transportation, there are generally very few complaints about the adjustments to service.

“As long as the daily train to and from Toronto isn’t changed, I personally won’t be affected,” said Anna Kent, a second-year student at Durham College who frequently uses Via services to come home to Belleville on weekends.

Loyalist general arts and science student Ryan Bell, who calls Ottawa home, also doesn’t see the changes as a problem. “It’s not like I ever took the late train [to Montreal via Ottawa], so the schedule shift doesn’t change anything for me.”

Via Rail has accommodated travellers to all destinations with its changes. Two new trains have been added to the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor, in order to replace the late-night route from Toronto to Montreal. This, said Andrews, will enable more people to get to where they need to go more quickly.

All new schedule changes are available to view on Via Rail’s website at www.viarail.ca