Sudbury will play host to a transportation forum this Thursday, Sept. 13 to discuss cuts to Via Rail service across Canada.

Forum facilitator Greg Gormick, a railway writer and policy expert on rail services, will lead a discussion about a Via Rail campaign to cut back national rail services by $40,000,000. 

His Sudbury visit is the second in a series of roughly 40 being held across the country, known collectively as the National Dream Renewed.

The Sudbury session will take place at Tom Davies Square at 7 p.m. Citizens concerned about the cutbacks and the potential effect on rail transportation in the North are encouraged to attend. The town-hall meetings are an initiative of Transport Action Canada, a citizen transportation advocacy group.

According to a press release issued by Sudbury Councillor Dave Kilgour, transcontinental service will be reduced to two runs weekly, while staffing will be reduced in most locations to part-time workers and ticket machines.

The goal of the National Dream Renewed is to gather citizens’ views on “how Via can be reformed to sustainably provide a high-quality, cost-effective service similar to that provided in every other industrialized nation. The goal is to produce a blueprint for Via’s revival and expansion based on the input of Canadians from Atlantic to Pacific to Hudson Bay.”