[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

VIA is useless outside of the corridor, and inside the corridor it is slow, eccentric, strange, and heavily compromised by a lack of track priority.

The best course of action is to get one route -- just one, say Montreal-Ottawa or something similarly central but unchallenging -- up to par and then let Canadians use it, enjoy it, and develop a feel for rail travel.

Because right now we are queuing for trains at gates like flights, stopping for reasons not explained by the conductor, paying for drinks with 1970s-style flatbed credit card machines and just generally playing host to a crazy old relic of a rail system. And the result is that we barely use it, and it all becomes a vicious cycle.

I agree with what you say except Ottawa-Montreal doesn't make sense. it should be Toronto-Montreal then expand. Both Montreal and Toronto have direct Amtrack connections so we should be falling in line with Amtrack upgrades. The first step will be building an electrified high speed line. Once in place the same tech could be set up between Calgary and Edmonton, continue the expansion to Ottawa. It would take a lot of political will and public support to upgrade then entire nation. The tracks north of Toronto are very rickety and at the moment train travel through the North until close to the Manitoba boarder where things flatten out is very slow.