Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaspertf
High speed rail between Calgary and Edmonton is not financially viable at this time, I did a lot of research and wrote up a business case for commuter rail between Airdrie and Calgary, and a commuter service between Airdrie and Calgary is just about financially viable. To put out just a couple of major reasons. There are more vehicles travelling between Airdrie and Calgary than Calgary and Edmonton, having driven the route many times I am confident to say that almost 1/3 of the vehicles between Calgary and Edmonton are commercial vehicles. Construction of high speed rail is orders of magnitude more expensive than standard rail, and that does not include the compulsory purchase of land required for high speed rail. To twin the tracks and enhance the infrastructure in the existing Right of Way I estimate to be $7million per km, the most recent high speed line constructed in Europe cost approx. $40million per km with no long viaducts or deep tunnels and not including purchase of land, construction of stations, or connections to the existing network.
In order to make high speed rail viable, Alberta needs a high concentration of population in Calgary and Edmonton, and the establishment of general passenger rail services that makes rail transportation a viable alternative to road and air.
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The government reports consistently estimate a much lower capital cost than you do.
http://www.vanhorneinstitute.com/wp-...ber-report.pdf
CPR rail works is around half of the cost of greenfield. And even your CPR estimate is high.
Don't have time to go dredging for the economic case, but iirc at 2-3% modal share the route will pay for its capital and operating costs.
And the province did an expensive study with license plate readers to find out how many cars were doing the whole trip to prove the demand was there, not just spot average vehicles per day passing the ring roads.