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

[Brad Sallows]

Which reflects the prevailing, self-defeating, opinion of most people in the Lower Mainland who have no real interest in building the economy of the Interior of BC where all the Conservatives (and natural resources) live

Passenger rail, not needed. Health care facilities operating when they should be, needed.

 

[lenaitch]

There is a tonne of abandoned rail-line in Eastern Canada, like a metric tonne. Moreover, the dedicated trackage VIA uses is all mostly double track in the Corridor. The issue isn't the track itself or really even the freight trains. There is more than enough room to facilitate meets and additional crossovers and/or sidings could be installed to facilitate additional passenger rail service, a cost to the Govt of course.

It's the 1000s of unprotected at grade crossings that exist on the corridor and really, what amounts to poor municipal/urban planning, that gets in the way. It gets worse the closer you get to major urban centres. All those folks that wanted waterfront property which just happened to be next to former industrial sites and rail operations.

To increase frequency, sure. To interweave high speed rail (defined as 250kmh+) with 'regular speed rail, including freight, I don't think happens anywhere in the world.

I forget the details but VIA paid CN to add extra trackage somewhere in the Corridor in eastern Ontario. CN charged an exorbitant amount for the job, claimed it as part of their infrastructure (it's on their property after all) so the end benefit to VIA was limited.

Now, VIA has their new Siemens 'Venture' trainsets. CN claims they are too light and too short to consistently trigger their signalling systems at speed, so has limited them to low speeds (40mph if I recall) at crossings. In response, VIA has doubled-up their sets to satisfy the minimum number of axles that CN demands.

When the original proposal was high frequency rail, the Toronto-Ottawa routing was proposed along the abandoned Quebec-Ontario (CP) ROW that runs through Peterborough. With a few alignment changes, it was largely felt to be suitable. Now that it has morphed into a high speed project, I highly doubt much of the ROW will be considered suitable.

 

[dapaterson]

When the original proposal was high frequency rail, the Toronto-Ottawa routing was proposed along the abandoned Quebec-Ontario (CP) ROW that runs through Peterborough. With a few alignment changes, it was largely felt to be suitable. Now that it has morphed into a high speed project, I highly doubt much of the ROW will be considered suitable.

As a long time fan of Bob Gainey I personally think Peterborough is an outstanding choice.