With that money put aside for the passenger rail, it could bring it one step closer to bringing it back.
“That was very good news when they announced that. I think there has been quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work going on, so I’m not really surprised that they’ve taken that step. I hope it’s the first step in getting the Northlander back,” said Terziano.
Terziano says many people in the community are excited at the thought of the train returning.
“I think that, with the cost of transportation and with the climate, and everything like that, anything we can do to maybe make more efficient transportation between here and southern Ontario instead of all the car traffic. It’s just going to help us with climate change, and I think the Northland was very much appreciated in our area when it was here. One of the main problems was that the timing didn’t work for day trips. So, that’s something we’ve been talking to CN about, revamping the timing of the routes south and north too.”
In late February, Huntsville council joined councillors from North Bay in calling on Premier Doug Ford to bring back the Northlander train and reliable and affordable passenger rail transportation, and Terziano thinks that forced the provincial government’s hand to put money aside for the passenger rail. Terziano also didn’t forget that in Ford’s campaign during the 2018 provincial election, he promised to bring it back before the next election which is coming up in 2022. Now that there’s money put aside, she hopes it can be back before June 2022.
“We are hopeful that it’s going to happen, we do meet with CN and the Northlander people about every couple of months, and the different mayors from other areas, and we keep talking to them about bringing it back. They let us know that anything we can do such as motions like that, will only help.”
Terziano also added that, whether there would have been a pandemic or not, she’s not sure if the passenger rails would have been back by now.