The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

December 2023

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South Etobicoke News – December 2023

A 101-year-old Face Eviction from Nursing Home.

An Etobicoke senior has launched a Go Fund Me page to help her 101-year-old sister remain in an assisted living home. Gwen Rawlinson, 82, said Phyllis Robson’s health is “very fragile” and by the end of December, her older sister will run out of money needed to stay in the Orillia residence.<!–more–>

VIA Rail’s Mimico Yard now a hub of activity with new fleet up and running

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One of the new VIA fleet of trains that will be looked after at the Toronto Maintenance Centre.

VIA Rail’s Toronto Maintenance Centre is a hub of activity as it will be the Mimico home of the railway’s new fleet of environmentally-friendly trains.

The company has obtained 32 new state-of-the-art trains which began operating October 24 along the Windsor – Quebec City corridor.

The company said the trains will be serviced at the Toronto Maintenance Centre (TMC), at 50 Drummond Street, in Mimico.

Parts of the TMC is being modernized and about 475 jobs will be created to complete the project by 2026.

VIA Rail has a new fleet of 32 eco-friendly trains that will be serviced in Mimico.

“The TMC modernization will stimulate local economic growth with an estimated 450 to 475 jobs created throughout this project,” VIA said on its website.

The project will include partial demolition and modification of the main building, the removal and addition of rails, various infrastructure improvements throughout the maintenance yard and the construction of a new wheel lathe facility to maintain wheels and ensure their smooth operation on the tracks, TMC said.

It said several mitigation measures have been conducted to ‘limit the disruptions caused by the upcoming work.’

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of our employees and communities and to minimizing disruptions,” VIA said. “The quality of life of our neighbours and residents of the Etobicoke-Lakeshore borough is important to us and the construction team.”

Inside one of the fleet which will be doing the Windsor to Quebec City run, including Toronto.

 The trains will be “one of the most environmentally friendly fleets in North America,” according to the company.  We are “improving the environmental footprint through advanced energy-efficient technology.”

According to VIA, there will for now be one daily round trip serving Toronto from Ottawa. The train trips will vary by day of the week.

The new fleet can travel up to 201 kilometres an hour and can carry about 200 passengers in different classes.

The driver’s section of the new train as it pulls into the station.

The project to modernize the maintenance centres in Montréal and Toronto is part of the corridor fleet replacement program, for which $1.5 billion in funds were allocated by the federal government.

The funds are for the new fleet, the modernisation maintenance centres, the implementation and integration of various IT systems as well as the transformation of maintenance processes.

VIA rail has almost 3,400 employees and serves about 400 communities in Canada. It moves about 3.3 million passengers yearly and generates some $335.3 million in revenue annually.

To meet the challenges of passenger rail transportation in the Québec City – Toronto corridor, VIA Rail proposed the High Frequency Rail (HFR) project to Ottawa in 2016. A project that would offer a faster, more frequent, accessible, and sustainable rail service in the most densely region of the country.

The federal government has acted on this proposal, preparing and launching its procurement process in 2022, for what could become Canada’s largest infrastructure project in generations.

VIA is hiring workers and you can more information by visiting viarail.ca