6 RAIL TRANSPORTATION

PASSENGER TRAFFIC

There were almost 4.3 million intercity rail passengers in 2005, up five per cent from 2004. Total passengerkilometres increased by about the same proportion, to just below 1.5 billion. VIA Rail carried 4.1 million passengers in 2005 (a 5.4 per cent increase) over a total of 1.4 billion passenger-kilometres (a 4.3 per cent increase). Class II carriers transported 0.17 million passengers (a seven per cent increase) over a total 49 million passenger-kilometres (a 12 per cent increase). 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.

Since 2002, commuter rail traffic in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver has been increasing steadily. In 2005, ridership was up 3.2 per cent to 56.3 million passengers. With the exception of Vancouver’s West Coast Express in 2003, all three major commuter rail companies (West Coast Express, Toronto’s GO Transit and Montreal’s Agence Métropolitaine de Montréal) have experienced increases during this period. In 2005, GO Transit carried 70 per cent of commuter rail traffic, comparable with previous years. Addendum Table A6-30 shows total commuter rail ridership since 1994 for these three cities.

Major Events in 2006

Infastructure

Industry Structure

Employment

Energy

Freight Transportation

Passenger Traffic

Price, Productivity and Financial Performance