At least one local expert has lauded an assertion by urban planner Dr Pedro Ortiz that there can be no sustainable “real mass transit” between Jamaica’s cities and chief towns without the revival of an efficient railway system.

Director at Cornerstone.Design Limited, Christopher Whyms-Stone, said that the re-establishment of the passenger railway system was long overdue and was the axle to turn the wheels of commerce and transportation in Kingston and other urban areas that are often anchored in gridlock.

“You have to do the railway … We are behind the black eight-ball on that where we should have had it already. That should have been one of our first [priorities] in trying to spread housing developments outside of Kingston, as we’ve done in Old Harbour, St Catherine, and as far as May Pen, Clarendon,” said Whyms-Stone, a registered architect.

“We should never have done that without first considering how we going to move those people into Kingston, where still a lot of them work. We cannot continue to rely on the motor vehicle. We need real mass transit.”

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