Chicago to Quebec City: Ontario mayors and Michigan politicians call for passenger rail improvements in southwestern Ontario

Local mayors are celling on the federal government strengthen VIA rail service in the Toronto-Windsor corridor. Daryl Newcombe explains.

As Canada plans high-speed rail between Quebec City and Toronto, and the U.S. touts a higher-speed Amtrak line connecting Chicago to Detroit, a group of politicians gathered in London to call for an improved passenger rail link across southwestern Ontario.

“For the Government of Canada to enhance passenger rail service in southwestern Ontario is a national infrastructure priority,” urged London Mayor Josh Morgan following a meeting with regional mayors and a delegation from the State of Michigan.

“The current rolling stock that VIA has now can travel at 200km/h, but it’s not reaching that capacity because of issues with train signals, train crossings, and the fact that freight does have priority on that rail line,” explained Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis.

The group supports a shared vision for International High Performance Rail connecting Toronto, southwestern Ontario, Windsor, and Detroit.

It would require the Canadian government to:

• Include funding in the 2026 federal budget for track improvements, station upgrades, and a joint border security facility for the Detroit-Windsor Cross-Border Train Service Connection
• Committing to a more reliable and faster passenger train service connecting Toronto, Oakville, Hamilton (Aldershot), Brantford, Woodstock, London, Chatham-Kent, and Windsor
• Improving existing rail infrastructure and stations, adding additional track capacity, and introducing a mechanism for passenger rail prioritization through legislation
• Ensuring rail improvements align with existing transportation corridors to protect agricultural land and rural communities

The creation of longer sidings and additional main line track would allow freight trains to pull over along the corridor, enabling passenger trains to maintain speed and pass freight trains where possible.

“You can’t have prioritization of passenger rail unless you prioritize it legislatively or actually build some of the infrastructure to allow the passenger trains to get by the freight trains,” Morgan said after the meeting.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said a funding contribution from the U.S. and an Environmental Assessment are already in place for a border security rail facility essential to getting passengers between the Amtrak system and VIA.

The project requires federal funding from Canada.

“The state of Michigan already has $43 million earmarked for the project. They’re good to go, provided our federal government gives a green light and unlocks $46 million on our side,” Dilkens explained.

The delegation from Michigan included the Republican State Senator representing the 31^st District and a representative from the office of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

“Regardless of the Republican or Democrat, you can come together on an issue like this,” said Michigan State Senator Roger Victory.

“It’s a multiplier [effect],” Victory added. “Open that corridor up, get that opportunity in Windsor and then we could go from there.”

Dilkens argued linking to midwestern cities including Detroit and Chicago would strengthen the federal government’s case for building the Alto high speed rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City.

“We absolutely think that these improvements will help support Alto and the Alto plan. You’re going to have more passengers being able to come from the United States through Windsor, down the southwestern line and up to Toronto to make that connection into the Alto system,” he explained.

For decades, politicians in southwestern Ontario have lobbied for improvements to passenger rail service frequency and reliability, but most of their efforts were eventually derailed.

Morgan believes this time can be different.

“What we have different here is a broad-based coalition that is different than we’ve seen before with federal governments and governments on the other side of the border already committing a significant number of dollars to segments of rail improvement projects,” he added.

“Let’s get the rust off the Rust Belt,” urged Senator Victory. “Let’s get these rails nice and shiny, and let’s just get this thing going because the next generation is going to need it and want it.”

Other municipalities participating include Toronto, Oakville, Woodstock, and Chatham-Kent.