High-speed train between Toronto and Montreal?

[Blue and White Army]

Apologies, not directly footie related... but how cool would it be in terms of future Voyageurs Cup away support turnout if Montreal and Toronto were linked by a high-speed train? []

Canada Considers Québec-Windsor HSR Corridor, Again

High-speed line running through Toronto and Montréal getting another think-over

The Transport Politic

25 February 2009

http://thetransportpolitic.com/2009/02/25/canada-considers-quebec-windsor-hsr-corridor-again/

Apparently Harper is being a douche about it... time to email the PMO and your local MP, kiddies!

[DoyleG]

In terms of placing bets, an Edmonton-Calgary link would have a better chance of emerging than the TO-Mtl route.

[brownbear]

quote:Originally posted by DoyleG

In terms of placing bets, an Edmonton-Calgary link would have a better chance of emerging than the TO-Mtl route.

I'm curious about your rationale for this statement. I'm not suggesting that you're wrong, only want to know on what you base your claim.

Thanks,

bb

[devioustrevor]

A full 60% of Canada's population would be within 50 miles of a High-Speed rail link between Windsor and Quebec City, how would a Edmonton-Calgary line be more likely. One of those lines is going to make money, anybody want to take a guess which?

[CanadianSoccerFan]

You'll hear some lobbying from the airlines on this one. This would effectively bankrupt Porter Airlines and put a dent in Air Canada and Westjet's profitable commuter route.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by brownbear

I'm curious about your rationale for this statement. I'm not suggesting that you're wrong, only want to know on what you base your claim.

Thanks,

bb

The provincial government here has had the ground work going on since '06. They have possession of teh land where the terminals would be built. The only holdup is which course of high speed rail to take.

This Toronto-Montreal talk has been going on for decades, even then its still far riskier proposition than an Edmonton-Calgary line.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by devioustrevor

A full 60% of Canada's population would be within 50 miles of a High-Speed rail link between Windsor and Quebec City, how would a Edmonton-Calgary line be more likely. One of those lines is going to make money, anybody want to take a guess which?

The proposed line would be more to benefit Toronto and Montreal, not Windsor and Quebec City. There is no guarantee that the communities in between will have stops on the route. Some of those communities would expect to be serviced.

The Edmonton-Calgary route would only have the one stop in Red Deer. It cuts down on the total travel time.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

You'll hear some lobbying from the airlines on this one. This would effectively bankrupt Porter Airlines and put a dent in Air Canada and Westjet's profitable commuter route.

Porter Airlines is already branching out beyond the corridor so it can't really put the company out of business that easily. WestJet doesn't have the commuter service compared to Air Canada. Both of them would be free to shift resources elsewhere, if not taking aircraft out of service.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army

Apologies, not directly footie related... but how cool would it be in terms of future Voyageurs Cup away support turnout if Montreal and Toronto were linked by a high-speed train? []

Canada Considers Québec-Windsor HSR Corridor, Again

High-speed line running through Toronto and Montréal getting another think-over

The Transport Politic

25 February 2009

http://thetransportpolitic.com/2009/02/25/canada-considers-quebec-windsor-hsr-corridor-again/

Apparently Harper is being a douche about it... time to email the PMO and your local MP, kiddies!

Harper is a douche about most things, nothing new there.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

The high speed rail they want to use is old school stuff. If they wanna be on the cutting edge they should use magnetic levitation trains. They go 450-500 km/h as opposed to 300, are totally silent and can rise over elevations allowing for flexibility when bypassing roads.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

The high speed rail they want to use is old school stuff. If they wanna be on the cutting edge they should use magnetic levitation trains. They go 450-500 km/h as opposed to 300, are totally silent and can rise over elevations allowing for flexibility when bypassing roads.

MagLev Trains haven't been proven in long-term, long distance travel. The only working systems of any type is in Shanghai, going between the airport and downtown.

It also requires a whole new system to be built and thus raising costs. The proposals here would be talking about using trains suitable for the existing track system.

[Tintin]

As stated above, maglev would never work in Canada. We're too car-oriented and the cost of maglev is astronomical. Even in Japan, the country with more trains per capita than anywhere else and spending money on mass transit isn't frowned on the way it is in Canada, the latest high-speed trains being built aren't maglev.

I would love to see some sort of high-speed rail anywhere in Canada. It's time we join the 19th century and build rail lines and stop polluting the planet.

[Obinna]

Such a rail line would probably be good for CSL expansion into Quebec if it materialized (Since most teams are GTA anyways).

[Vic]

The Edmonton/Calgary corridor services 10% of the population of the Quebec City/Windsor.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

The Edmonton/Calgary corridor services 10% of the population of the Quebec City/Windsor.

Yet Edmonton/Calgary is moving faster in a couple of years than Quebec City/Windsor has done in the past 30 years. Population means jack.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by DoyleG

Yet Edmonton/Calgary is moving faster in a couple of years than Quebec City/Windsor has done in the past 30 years. Population means jack.

Who will be riding these trains, if population means jack?

Edmonton/Calgary may be "moving faster", but they have one hell of a long way to go before it comes anywhere near the population base within the Quebec/Windsor corridor.

[Lord Bob]

A lot of the logic behind Edmonton - Calgary is that it's a good test run: the terrain is almost dead flat, there are a couple big population centres that do a lot of traffic on either end (anyone who's driven down the QE2 on a Friday morning can verify that), and for the most part costs would be a lot lower. The Alberta government ran a proposal for a high-speed train and the accepted option was just buying and upgrading the CN freight line, which would cost pocket change relative to high-speed rail in the corridor.

Once we got our eye in on a small-scale but still economical project, then we could talk about setting aside the $9 gazillion for a Toronto - Montreal train.

[Scottie]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

Who will be riding these trains, if population means jack?

Edmonton/Calgary may be "moving faster", but they have one hell of a long way to go before it comes anywhere near the population base within the Quebec/Windsor corridor.

Between Westjet and Air Canada alone, there are 48 commercial flights between edmonton and calgary on any given weekday, along with thousands of people who drive highway 2 (including 18 greyhounds) every day. That's who.

[Vic]

Pretty impressive numbers. Too bad you can't dip into the Alberta Heritage Fund for special projects. I'm not up on Alberta politics, but it will be interesting to see if there's enough political will from the Provincial Finance Minister in the downturn. It's a pretty massive investment to bear with little help from the feds.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Scottie

Between Westjet and Air Canada alone, there are 48 commercial flights between edmonton and calgary on any given weekday, along with thousands of people who drive highway 2 (including 18 greyhounds) every day. That's who.

I'm not doubting that such a line would get used a lot by the population in Alberta, I was just retorting to Doyle's usual anti-Eastern Canada crap more than anything.

Anyone who says "population means jack" when discussing a transit issue in the most populous region in the country (by a long shot) is clearly off his rocker.

That said, knowing the Harper gov't, I'd place money on an Alberta high-speed rail link getting built long before a Quebec City-Windsor line.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by Scottie

Between Westjet and Air Canada alone, there are 48 commercial flights between edmonton and calgary on any given weekday, along with thousands of people who drive highway 2 (including 18 greyhounds) every day. That's who.

You forgot the 12 Red Arrow buses as well.

[DoyleG]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

I'm not doubting that such a line would get used a lot by the population in Alberta, I was just retorting to Doyle's usual anti-Eastern Canada crap more than anything.

Anyone who says "population means jack" when discussing a transit issue in the most populous region in the country (by a long shot) is clearly off his rocker.

That said, knowing the Harper gov't, I'd place money on an Alberta high-speed rail link getting built long before a Quebec City-Windsor line.

You knew what I was talking about but didn't want to admit it. Just use your damn head for once.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by DoyleG

You knew what I was talking about but didn't want to admit it. Just use your damn head for once.

I swear, you must be a robot the way you use the same lines all the time.

[piltdownman]

Why a TGV style train? Wouldn't a Intercity-Express 3 platform be a better idea as they are built by Bombardier( and Siemens), which is Canadian Company. I hate how this Country has become so PC, that we don't look at our own companies. Just look at BC ferries, who when comparing ship building costs, excludes the 25% duty on ships built overseas as it would be 'unfair' to give Canadian companies a competitive advantage. Or how with the new transit line in Vancouver, Bombardier's bid was not allowed to factor in the costs saved by avoiding duty or cost saved because the two existing lines already use Bombardier systems.

[Lord Bob]

I think that spending more money in the name of buying Canadian is always a bad idea.

(Note that this has nothing to do with what Vancouver did by ruling out Bombardier savings on the Canada Line, which was just being stupid for reasons of political patronage.)