Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that 313 VIA passenger rail cars will be built in Thunder Bay.
The deal is worth $4.7 billion and is the first time in four decades these rail cars have been produced in Canada.
Minister of Transport Steven McKinnon calls it “the single largest procurement in VIA history.”
“When Canadians need things built – they come to Thunder Bay,” says Carney. “For too long, we bought from abroad what we are more than capable of building right at home. “
VIA’s fleet of passenger rail cars is more than 70 years old — “They were built when the NHL had six teams, goalies wouldn’t wear masks, the Leafs would win the cup,” the Prime Minister jokes.
Mathieu Paquette, interim CEO of VIA, says the age of the fleet “brings a lot of challenges in terms of reliability, especially on route reliability. So with new equipment, you can expect less breakdowns, and that reliability will go up, and therefore on-time performance as well.”
Alstom will use the Buy Canadian policy to procure materials from more than 900 Canadian suppliers.
“It will be Canadian electricians that install the wiring, Canadian machinists that will make the precision parts, Canadian welders that will build the steel frames from Canadian carbon steel,” says Carney.
The Prime Minister says the investment will create almost 700 jobs for workers in Ontario and Quebec.
It is not yet clear exactly how many jobs will be created at Thunder Bay’s Alstom plant, but Unifor Local 1075 President Justin Roberts expects to see about 200 in the near future.
Roberts says the announcement is “great news for all of us here at Alstom Thunder Bay. It’s even better news for my members that have felt insecure about their jobs. Now this brings some security to them and their families.”
According to Paquette, the contract will bring the passenger trains into service in phases, with the first cars in service by 2031, and the final batch by 2035.
“This is a guaranteed 10 years of solid security for our members,” adds Roberts.
The announcement is already sending ripples through the city thanks to the possible downstream economic effects of such a significant investment.
Already Thunder Bay’s Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) and Chamber of Commerce have weighed in to praise the contract, which both parties lobbied the federal government to grant to the Thunder Bay plant.
“For Thunder Bay, an investment of this scale will strengthen our manufacturing sector, generate significant economic activity, and drive long-term growth across our community and region,” says CEO Jamie Taylor of the CEDC.
The VIA contract also has important long-term implications for the Alstom plant: part of the investment will go into refurbishing the plant to ensure it’s capable of working on the new VIA cars, particularly while it is working in parallel on subway cars for Toronto.
“When they announce millions of dollars that they’re going to invest into the site, that’s terrific news. That’ll prepare us for a future of building cars beyond these contracts,” explains Roberts.
Though Thunder Bay will now construct the next generation of passenger rail cars for VIA, the nation’s coast-to-coast passenger rail line hasn’t stopped in Thunder Bay for decades, with the route now travelling through Armstrong.
While Paquette is unwilling to offer a commitment from VIA on bringing rail service back to Thunder Bay, saying only that “it’s probably a bit too soon to tell… but we’re definitely looking at adding services,” Prime Minister Carney says that “for this government, it’s a priority, yes.”
