6 RAIL TRANSPORTATION

PASSENGER TRAFFIC

There were almost 4.1 million intercity rail passengers in 2004, up slightly from 2003; however, total passengerkilometres remained steady at 1.4 billion. VIA Rail carried 2.6 per cent more passengers (3.9 million in total) but travelled almost one per cent fewer passenger-kilometres (1.4 billion in total). Class II carriers carried 4.9 per cent fewer passengers in 2004 (0.16 million in total) and experienced a 19 per cent decrease in passenger-kilometres (44 million in total). Addendum Table A6-29 gives details of intercity rail passenger traffic for Class I and II carriers, including Algoma Central, Ontario Northland and the Quebec North Shore& Labrador Railway.

Total commuter rail traffic in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver jumped 4.6 per cent in 2004 to 54.6 million passengers in total. Ridership increased again in 2005, to 56.2 million passengers. For both years, these changes reflect an increase for all three major commuter rail companies (Vancouver's West Coast Express, Toronto's GO Transit and Montreal's Agence Métropolitaine de Montréal). In 2005, GO Transit represented 70 per cent of commuter rail traffic, comparable to previous years. Addendum Table A6-30 shows total commuter rail ridership since 1994 for these three cities.

Major Events in 2005

Infrastructure

Industry Structure

Employment

Energy

Freight Transportation

Passenger Traffic

Price, Productivity and Financial Performance