News Wire Digest for Friday, Feb. 7 NEWSWIRE

Quite a bit of rail news for your Friday morning:

— Passenger and freight traffic has been stopped since Thursday evening by protestors blocking Canadian National rail lines in southern Ontario, the CBC reports. VIA Rail Canada cancelled evening Thursday evening service between Toronto and Montreal, and Toronto and Ottawa, has cancelled some trains today, and warns that others could be affected. Members of the Tyendiaga Mohawks blocked the tracks with a snowplow and truck to support a First Nations group whose protest in British Columbia was the target of a police raid.

— Canadian National announced this morning it will close rail traffic control centers in Montreal and Toronto, centralizing operations in Edmonton, the CBC reports. More than 100 jobs will be affected in Montreal alone. The head of the union representing the affected employees declined comment, citing ongoing negotiations.

— An accelerated maintenance program will lead to closures of all four of Boston’s subway lines during portions of 2020, including month-long shutdowns of two portions of the Green Line, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials announced Thursday. The July shutdown of the Green Line’s C branch will disrupt about 7,600 riders a day, while the August closure of the E branch will displace 14,000 riders, the Boston Globe reports. The MBTA is saying shuttle buses will replace the rail service.

— Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit ridership in January was up 26% over the same month a year earlier, according to preliminary numbers. While a spokeswoman told the North Bay Business Journal it was difficult to know what caused the increase, the commuter line began operating to the Larkspur ferry terminal in December and also launched a combined pass for off-peak rail and ferry use.

— Rail service between Boston and Western Massachusetts, via a new or existing commuter rail line, could cost as much as $25 billion, according to estimates by the state’s department of transportation. MassDOT presented the costs for six different alternatives at a meeting of an advisory committee on east-west rail, Masslive.com reports. The most expensive option would create an electrified, 150-mph route; the lowest priced, at $2 billion, would involve new rail service between Springfield and Worcester, Mass., along with a bus connection.

— A committee representing Montreal’s airports and business groups is urging the Canadian and Quebec governments to extend the REM light rail system to connect Montreal’s Trudeau airport to the VIA Rail Canada station in Dorval, the Montreal Gazette reports. Current plans have the 41-mile, 26-station light rail system from downtown ending at the airport, about 700 yards short of the connection with the VIA station 

— San Francisco Muni, which operates the city’s bus, light rail, and cable cars, is looking to build housing at its Potrero Yard — a former streetcar facility now used for buses — for transit operators, the San Francisco Examiner reports. The move would help address the scarce housing situation in the Bay Area that is contributing to an operator shortage.