Plans to bring a passenger train back to Northern Ontario are chugging along.
Ontario Northland is set up today (March 14) at the South Porcupine Legion for public information sessions on the Timmins-Porcupine train station that will be located on Falcon Street. Interested residents still have time to check out the display from 3-7 p.m.
The session is part of Ontario Northland's environmental assessment process, said Kate Bondett, senior communications manager.
"It gives us an opportunity to talk with community members, update them on the service, the status of the service, talk about the station being built here in Timmins and talk about all of the environmental work that we are doing currently to prepare for construction of the station,” she said.
Studies are being done in key areas, including assessments for wildlife, groundwater and soil, noise vibration studies, and socio-economic impact, she said.
The results will be compiled into a report. In June, Ontario Northland expects to be back in town for another information session to talk about the results of the report.
The plans for the station are on track.
The contract for the station in Porcupine is expected to be tendered in the winter of 2025, with construction in the summer of 2025.
The station, she said, will be fully accessible, have bus terminals for the Ontario Northland service and Timmins Transit, as well as a drop-off and pick-up area.
"We procured new trainsets for this service as well. We expect they’ll start being manufactured in the spring, we expect them to be delivered in 2026 and then we’ll start to do testing along the corridor with the new trainsets,” she said.
The passenger rail service will have 16 stops going from Union Station in Toronto to Timmins, with a rail connection to Cochrane. The others stops are Langstaff, Gormley, Washago, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, South River, North Bay, Temagami, Temiskaming Shores, Englehart, Kirkland Lake (Swastika), and Matheson.
Not all of the stops will have stations, many will have glass shelters, said Bondett. Progress is expected to be made on those this summer.
Infrastructure work is also being done on the rails.
"What I would say is in community consultations, we know that affordability and on-time performance is make or break for this service, it’s a requirement for it to be successful. We have multiple work streams in motion at this point to ensure we meet what we need to meet,” she said.
The City of Timmins is also working with the Ontario Northland team.
Mayor Michelle Boileau said that staff in several departments have had frequent meetings.
“They are looking at what kind of upgrades they can do to Falcon Street knowing that it can get quite rough depending on the time of the year and considering that there will be increased traffic that the passenger buses will be going down there as well,” she said.
With having the passenger train back in town, she hopes it will bring more affordable transportation options and make the city more accessible.
"You hear myself and council talk about wanting to grow the city and see some positive growth here. We’ve seen an influx of international students, of newcomers choosing to make Timmins their home and it’ll just make it that much easier for them to be able to connect with their support networks that might be down in southern Ontario. It could be positive for business, for the post-secondary sector just allowing everyone to think about what could be the next phases for expansion,” said Boileau.
