Government of Canada, VIA Rail unveil new Belleville Station design

Daryl Kramp, Member of Parliament for Prince Edward-Hastings, Neil Ellis, Mayor of Belleville, Ont., and Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, General Counsel and Secretary of VIA Rail Canada, unveiled the design plans for VIA's new Belleville passenger rail station.

Representing an estimated
investment of C$14 million, the project will receive C$2.5 million from the
Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. This investment will provide
modern, attractive facilities to passengers with capacity to meet potential
future growth.

The new station design
will enhance and complement the existing heritage station, which dates back to
1856 and will be preserved. Desjardins-Siciliano pointed out that the
Belleville station is one of the top 15 in Canada in terms of passenger volumes
today.  "It serves far more travelers
than the builders of the original station ever imagined possible. And that
volume will keep growing as VIA continues to add faster, more efficient, more
reliable and frequent train services in the Ontario-Quebec corridor."

With construction
scheduled to begin next year, the new station will incorporate an island
boarding platform and overhead bridge to accommodate the addition of two main
rail lines. The additional lines are part of a C$300-million project to expand
and improve track between Montreal and Toronto. 
 


The Ontario-Quebec
corridor is important to VIA’s success. As a result of the capital investment
by the Government of Canada, VIA is revamping its services while becoming more
efficient and improving its environmental footprint and operational
performance.

Station and
infrastructure improvements have been made possible by an unprecedented C$923
million capital investment in passenger rail by the Government of Canada. This
investment is stimulating job creation, skills development and private sector
activity. Additional infrastructure projects are aimed at improving service
quality and cost efficiency at points across VIA’s network.

Station Design highlights
include: A fully accessible and welcoming environment with comfortable,
relaxing waiting areas; large, ample windows to allow plenty of light and
views outside, including views of train arrivals and departures.; wider
boarding platforms; parking and drop-off facilities, designed for the
convenience of customers;  and landscaping that preserves and reinforces
the natural environment.