The Clean Train Coalition continues to rail against Metrolinx's plans to run diesel trains through Toronto neighbourhoods.
In early October Metrolinx received approval from the Minister of the Environment John Gerretsen for the Environmental Assessment conducted on the Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union-Pearson Rail Link project.However, there were 18 conditions placed on the approval including that the service use Tier 4 state-of-the-art engines, a technology the Clean Train Coalition says doesn't yet exist.At a meeting hosted by MPP for Trinity-Spadina Rosario Marchese in Liberty Village on Oct. 29, Mike Sullivan, chair of the Weston Community Coalition and member of the Clean Train Coalition, urged residents in attendance to write letters in opposition to Metrolinx's plan and continue to press for the electrification of the Georgetown Corridor."These trains are going to run empty most of the time," Sullivan said. "There aren't 1,900 people in a GO Train every time it runs. Metrolinx's hasn't thought this through. They are doing this because the McGuinty government told them to."Dr. Avrum Regenstreif, a resident of Trinity-Spadina who has written extensively on railway electrification in Canada and Europe, also spoke. He said that with the prospect of an economic and industrial recession continuing in Ontario and many other areas in Canada, new forms of infrastructure investment are needed to create zero carbon emission mobility options not only in Ontario and Quebec, but ultimately across Canada."The most important feature of the electric locomotive is that it makes it possible to transport overland large numbers of people, cargoes, transport trucks loaded with merchandise, buses and other vehicles with zero carbon emissions using sustainable electricity," he said.The next Clean Train Coalition meeting is planned for Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, 1900 Davenport Rd. from 7 to 9 p.m.