High Speed Train Coming?-split from boosting Canada’s military spending"

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I agree HT,....if folks feel like we need to put our kids another (at least) 90 billion in debt, let's at least use it to fix up things that matter to a lot more of the country, like fixing up the Trans Canada Highway from end to end.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I agree HT,....if folks feel like we need to put our kids another (at least) 90 billion in debt, let's at least use it to fix up things that matter to a lot more of the country, like fixing up the Trans Canada Highway from end to end.

Agreed I drive the TCH a few times a year from NS to Kingston and return. Perhaps that would be a better spend of 90 billion $$$.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Out off the other coast, I'd be happy with any rail, so long as it's not lethal to ride on, takes large, predictable bulk freight off the roads, provides a trunk passenger service to somewhere near most of the airports and some of the ferries, and has a commuter service, for Vic/Esq, Duncan, Nanaimo, and Courtenay at the same speeds as were provided by steam a century ago. "Catching up to post-Soviet legacy-infrastructure-heavy Eastern European services" would be aspirational at this point.

Similar services for everywhere else in the province with never-ending highway issues and projects and ever-growing populations would be lovely. Really need a new WAC Bennet and a rail-focused Gaglardi.

On reflection, I've probably posted something along these lines before!

Meanwhile CN wants to abandon the existing railline north of Squamish into the interior of BC. There is corporation pushback on that, but the current softwood crisis is not helping. Personally I would like to see the railline between Minette and Dease Lake completed. Then push it into the Yukon and link up to Alaska.

 

[YZT580]

There's undoubtedly a lot to be done. Nobody is suggesting that this project is where it ends.

But the nature of large projects is that they have to start a decade or two in advance. Especially in this country.

The Quebec-Windsor Corridor is already choking on traffic. On top of that, airports are starting to max out. None of this gets better in 15 years. Or we simply accept stagnation for half the population and GDP of the country. If we don't want to see that in 2040, then gotta start building the alternatives now.

And I would say the same for other highly populated parts of the country like the lower Mainland. Possibly even the CalEd corridor given the way traffic is heading there.

no argument. So do you build a half a dozen lines (VR Island, lower mainland, Calgary/Edmonton, Windsor/Toronto, Toronto/Quebec via Montreal and probably an argument for one through Nova Scotia as well, or do we spend all the money and time on a single line that accommodates only the principal city dwellers in a few principal cities and ignore the rest

 

[ytz]

no argument. So do you build a half a dozen lines (VR Island, lower mainland, Calgary/Edmonton, Windsor/Toronto, Toronto/Quebec via Montreal and probably an argument for one through Nova Scotia as well, or do we spend all the money and time on a single line that accommodates only the principal city dwellers in a few principal cities and ignore the rest

You're assuming other lines are cheap and that the majority of cost inflation comes from the speed. In reality, significant costs and complications are land assembly and expropriation. And that's the same for all the other lines you propose. Alto is basically proof of concept here. If it doesn't get built, don't expect anything else (especially passenger rail) to ever get built.