Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
5 years into this proposal they still haven’t answered some pretty basic questions.
1). How is the line going to get through Montreal? (Between Dorval and St Martin). The Tunnel seems to be off the table (and even if it wasn’t the approach Via currently uses into Montreal is incredibly slow and does not seem easily upgradable). The only option that seems even remotely affordable in their budget window is bypassing downtown Montreal and building a station in TMR, but they seem loathe to admit that in public. Any option assumes CN or CP is willing to yield track or ROW land for dedicated passenger use (their apparent unwillingness to do that is the whole reason for this project).
2) How are they going to get through Peterborough? This is not a high traffic line that was significantly grade separated in urban areas decades ago (like the CN mainline). The Peterborough situation resembles the Guelph situation Metrolinx has to deal with, and the GO solutions are incredibly expensive. Again, the only option that would be even remotely affordable would be to bypass Peterborough and build a “Peterborough Junction” station outside of town, but they are again loathe to admit that in public.
3) The Toronto situation is somewhat more clear because there is a decade-old feasibility study for GO to Peterborough in the public record. But those costs were very high ($2B for the faster option) and inflation adjusted would eat up a huge chunk of the budget. They also would require CP to yield land or track for dedicated passenger use (or some sort of expensive tunnel project).
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The problem with this project is so far 100% of the work has been on building a business case, and very little effort has been put into answering basic technical/engineering questions that, frankly, should be put to bed in order to build a business case.
I'm not saying they need to release a full EIA, but some report should highlight technical challenges like the ones you mentioned.
It's kind of sad, since in the past 5 years VIA could have piggybacked on a number of initiatives by more powerful stakeholders that would have made their life easier.
For example, there is a TPAP underway to completely rebuild
Scarborough Junction, complete with a grade-separated fly-under for electrified GO RER trains to access an upgraded Stouffville line at 15 minute frequencies. This would have probably been the best way for VIA HFR trains to run from Toronto Union Station to the CP mainline
here. Of course VIA completely missed the boat on this initiative, so they'll have to go it alone and find other alternatives.