Letter to Editor:

Ed. note: Plan calls for glass kiosk with ticket machine inside across the street. The Northlander may start running in 2026 after track testing.

In Gravenhurst we are welcoming the return of the Northlander train service with new equipment and a functional reliable schedule.

So the big day has now arrived and the Northlander train will resume service to Gravenhurst and the many towns that relied on this transportation link between the Ontario north and the Toronto hub.

The Northland Transportation plans include building new glass passenger waiting kiosks along the route towns and in Gravenhurst across Brock Street in a vacant parking lot.

However Gravenhurst already has a beautiful heritage train station, which was operating throughout the years of the previous Northlander train service and the subsequent Northlander bus service.

The station is owned by the Town of Gravenhurst and remains a Gravenhurst heritage building and as such is maintained and serviced in anticipation of the return of the Northlander train service for the last decade.

The train station has since had a new roof and a paint job and newly refurbished accessible washrooms and a food snack facility.

During the time of the Northlander train service and the subsequent bus service, the train station was a vibrant hub for coffee groups and provided food snack service and baking products for the travelling passengers.

Unfortunately, when Northland Transportation relocated the Northland bus stop from the station to another town location, the traveler traffic ceased and the food kiosk operator immediately folded.

The train station has remained unoccupied since then though the town of Gravenhurst has endevoured to rent it for the past nearly 10 years.

But Northlander Transport has chosen to build a new glass waiting kiosk in a parking lot across Brock Street from the existing, well maintained, awaiting Gravenhurst train station.

We should all remember that our town is presently maintaining the train station with the expectation of having it used again by Northlander.

The town must consider, that when the scheduled Northlander bus stop was relocated away from the station, the result was the snack kiosk tenant was forced to leave.

An obvious conclusion is the prospect of the town now renting the snack kiosk in the train station without the passenger train traffic would be remote.

Citizens should fight

Northlander plan

I would encourage us all in Gravenhurst to insist that our Gravenhurst Town Council to reach out to Northland Transportation to revise their plan to build a new glass passenger waiting kiosk because it is critical for the future viability of the train station.

I’m sure Northlander’s decision is based on their assumption of lower upkeep costs of an un-manned glass kiosk over the maintenance of our train station.

So, I would suggest to help Northlander reverse their decision to construct a new glass waiting kiosk while there is still time, the Town could make a proposal to Northland Transportation that the Town would to continue to provide some of the maintenance costs, eg. taxes, utilities, etc as they are presently providing.

Northland Transport should also consider that the use of the existing Gravenhurst train station would save them the construction cost of installing and providing services of an unnecessary new glass waiting kiosk.

Their self serve ticket vending machine could remain outside the train station unmanned as planned.

And at the very least the glass shelter should be on the lawn next to the train station where there is a sign now.

Our town should be questioning Northlander why this is their plan and try to get it revised.

The present plan cannot be allowed to stand as the Gravenhurst train station will cease to have a viable function and would be the demise of the station.

Robert Barnes, Gravenhurst