VIA Rail Canada held its first Annual Public Meeting June 14, at the Ottawa Train Station. Broadcast simultaneously on the Internet, the meeting provided an opportunity for the public to learn about VIA's business operations, financial performance and projects for improvements.

It also gave the public a chance to speak directly with Paul G. Smith, chairman of the board, Marc Laliberté, president and CEO and Robert St-Jean, chief financial and administrative officer, during an open-question period. The chairman and executive officers also answered questions sent by e-mail from members of the public who could not attend in person.

Major investment program
Smith mentioned that with an unprecedented investment by the Canadian government of approximately $950 million (C$923 million), VIA is transforming the future of passenger rail.

"It is the biggest capital investment program in VIA's history," Smith said. "It will give VIA the tools, the infrastructure and equipment, to ensure that passenger rail provides relevant, vital services connecting Canada and Canadians across the country in the years ahead."

Laliberté noted that infrastructure improvements in the Quebec-Windsor corridor will expand the capacity of passenger rail, allowing VIA to carry more people. He added, "this is essential for one of our top priorities, connecting more Canadians by offering more frequent train services, faster and better schedules and more reliable performance."

Performance
In an overview of VIA's performance in 2010, St-Jean said that travel markets continued to struggle following the 2009 recession and despite that context, VIA revenues increased by 3.2 percent.

"This means that we are earning more revenues per passenger," St-Jean added. "And if we look at the first quarter of 2011, things look even more encouraging. Compared with the first quarter of 2010, passenger revenues are up 6.3 percent and passenger volumes increased 2.7 percent. So revenues continue to increase, due in large part to better revenue management and we've got ridership back on track for growth."

Transforming VIA
Laliberté also outlined VIA's strategy to achieve two further goals: increase services in a value for taxpayers' perspective and making passenger rail "not only the safest, but most operationally-efficient mode of public transportation in Canada."

Commenting on prospects for the future, Laliberté said, "2011 will be a pivotal year, as key investment projects move forward and reach completion. As we continue to focus on the immediate challenge, maintaining steady growth in the months ahead, I am confident that this pivotal year will mark an important step towards our vision for the future. "