It's a shame that Canada allowed itself to become one of the few countries in the world where the vast majority of the rail system is privately owned and where private companies call the shots. But that reality isn't going to change. GO Transit and Via Rail have realized this and are now operating on the assumption that they have to own and control any corridor that's going to see competitive and reliable rail service. Between GO undertaking a massive expansion on the lines they now own and Via's HFR, we're effectively building a publicly owned passenger rail system from scratch. Add to that the rapid transit expansions in Montreal and smaller cities throughout the Corridor, and we're working towards a rail system that, at least in this part of the country, can hold its own with the likes of Sweden.
If that happens, similar investments on a smaller scale in other parts of the country will be more likely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jawagord
Other than Canada and Sweden are both countries with trains what else is comparable? Sweden is tiny geographically compared to Canada. Distance and travel time are big determinants on whether passenger trains are successful versus planes and cars. In Canada our train system is most effective as a freight moving system not a people moving system. This isn’t going to change by throwing more money at Via. Much smarter to fund high volume intra-city passenger train service like LRT and metro heavy rail.
https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/coun.../canada/sweden |
Others have responded to this but it's worth repeating: Sweden is not tiny geographically compared to the Windsor-Quebec Corridor. Even the most populated southern part of Sweden has about half the population density of the Corridor. Canadians have this counterproductive self image that we're uniquely spread out when the reality is that most of us are concentrated into a few relatively densely populated regions.