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VIA Rail/Supplied

In a recent interview with the Toronto Sun, Langan said we lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to high-speed rail service, and said the proposed HFR route wouldn’t improve travel time between Toronto and Montreal because it isn’t direct.

”You’re going to be on the same tracks as you had been before,” Langan said.

He said the new route is good for Peterborough, but then it becomes a “tourist train” to the “hinterland.”

“I mean they abandoned (the track) 50 years ago for a reason,” the Cambridge, Ont., resident said.

VIA’s own data bears this out to some degree.

According to an emailed statement from the Crown corporation, a trip from Montreal to Toronto on the proposed HFR service is estimated to take around four hours and 45 minutes — only 19 minutes faster than on a current train.

And this is slower than in the 1970s, Langan pointed out, when we had a turbo train that could make the trip in about four hours.

However, for other parts of the route, such as Toronto-Ottawa and Montreal-Quebec, travel time would improve by more than an hour. And the frequency would increase.

“VIA Rail would continue to operate the existing routes, as part of the HFR, residents along the Toronto-Kingston-Montreal-Drummondville-Quebec corridor would see improved scheduling and service tailored to their community’s needs,” VIA said in the email.

In the case of Montreal-Toronto, VIA said there would be 15 departures a day instead of six.