High Speed Rail in Canada

[haljackey]

• Video Link



To be honest, it saddens me to know that Canada has 0 electrified lines! We gotta catch up with the world!

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by haljackey

• Video Link



To be honest, it saddens me to know that Canada has 0 electrified lines! We gotta catch up with the world!

Hahahaha, that's gold!

[habfanman]

Ah c'mon! We're spending 16 billion + on F-35 fighters. No room in the budget for useless trains that will only move people from one place to another quickly.

Think of the benefits of having a token force of F-35's.. woo hoo! We can move one person from one place to another super quickly!! (while the rest of us wait for the 1980's VIA. We differ from India Rail in that nobody hangs on the exterior of the train.. yet.

[1ajs]

it is sadening we should be building this or were going to be the 3rd world soon enuff

[Policy Wonk]

VIA Rail is actually running slower now than they were in the 70's owing to the retirement of the Turbotrain (which was garbage) and its replacement with the LRC with an active-tilt system that VIA was incapable of maintaining reducing its potential speed to 95mph from 125mph.

VIA should have bought the Rohr Turboliner like Amtrak did.

[eternallyme]

The big problem with calling for such is that it would be seen in the western and Atlantic media as pandering to Central Canada at the expense of taxpayers everywhere.

This would be better promised in a provincial election.

[jigglysquishy]

Thought I might as well throw this here

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

Large post here

Hopefully with the Green Part pushing HSR and Ignatieff also supporting it we will seem some much needed development in this area. Here's what its looking like right now.


This map shows the Windsor-Quebec corridor and the Alberta Corridor.





Two pictures of the Windsor-Quebec Corridor. There are 4 lines

• Toronto-Montreal via Ottawa
• Montreal-Quebec
• Toronto-Windsor via Kitchener and London
• Toronto-Buffalo via Hamilton

With Toronto-Montreal being the big one it should also be the faster one. Have it go at 350km/hr, with all the other trains going 280-300km/hr.

Note: The circles with an x in them would be theoretical stops.



And here's the Alberta one for reference


I also have a map with all theoretical rail lines for Canada. And I have a list for the high speed ones of populations and distances if anyone is interested.

[habfanman]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

The big problem with calling for such is that it would be seen in the western and Atlantic media as pandering to Central Canada at the expense of taxpayers everywhere.

This would be better promised in a provincial election.

Exactly! In this fucked up country we don't do what makes sense, we do whatever is politically expediant. If we were to build high speed rail in the only place that it makes immediate sense: Toronto-Montreal, we'd also have to build it from Halifax to Moncton, Winnipeg to Regina (or Saskatoon- that'd be a battle!) Calgary to Edmonton (that'd make sense) some — place in BC to Vancouver.. therefore making it an impossibility even before the 175th study is concluded.

Of course it would have to be completely multicultural and inclusive of everybody and, and, and...

Oh, Canada..

[habfanman]

Originally Posted by Policy Wonk

VIA Rail is actually running slower now than they were in the 70's owing to the retirement of the Turbotrain (which was garbage) and its replacement with the LRC with an active-tilt system that VIA was incapable of maintaining reducing its potential speed to 95mph from 125mph.

VIA should have bought the Rohr Turboliner like Amtrak did.

I used to take the Turbo from Toronto to Montréal and it wasn't garbage, it was the first step, and it was awesome. Europe was taking the first step at the time. They embraced it, we didn't.

The only way that we will ever see high speed rail in this country is if the U.S. decides to do it. Only then will we tag along, like we always do, a nation of followers.. tied to whatever fate that America decides for us..

[manrush]

Originally Posted by habfanman

I used to take the Turbo from Toronto to Montréal and it wasn't garbage, it was the first step, and it was awesome. Europe was taking the first step at the time. They embraced it, we didn't.

The only way that we will ever see high speed rail in this country is if the U.S. decides to do it. Only then will we tag along, like we always do, a nation of followers.. tied to whatever fate that America decides for us..

The US also happens to be a nation of followers, while the rest of the world moves along. That is, if we move at all.

I don't know about Canada, but down here, high speed rail has become a partisan issue.

So we won't be getting it for a long while either (with the exception of California, NEC and Chicago-St. Louis, provided those three plans don't fizzle).

It seems that Mexico will be the first in North America to have a true high-speed network.

[habfanman]

Originally Posted by manrush

The US also happens to be a nation of followers, while the rest of the world moves along. That is, if we move at all.

I don't know about Canada, but down here, high speed rail has become a partisan issue.

So we won't be getting it for a long while either (with the exception of California, NEC and Chicago-St. Louis, provided those three plans don't fizzle).

It seems that Mexico will be the first in North America to have a true high-speed network.

I agree manrush, North America are but followers when it comes to high speed rail but the fact of the matter is: unless you take the first step, Canada will never establish high speed rail. The days of us acting as an independant, risk-taking nation are over. There are no dreams here any longer, we just sell resources, don't do much of anything else really. If we do try to create anything, it turns into a regional battle of self-hatred "Well we can't believe that the 'not made in my part of Canada' company got that contract!!

Recipe for a winner nation..

Fucked up, Canada is. You're lucky to be American!

[Ayreonaut]

Self-loathe much?

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

Ummm, have you ever driven Hwy 7?? There is a reason that every HSR study between Ottawa and Toronto has either gone through Smith Falls to Kingston or down to Brockville - the terrain is significantly easier to build on then the route you chose.

Going along Hwy 7 would likely double the cost as it is all through precambrian rock or water.

[manrush]

Originally Posted by habfanman

I agree manrush, North America are but followers when it comes to high speed rail but the fact of the matter is: unless you take the first step, Canada will never establish high speed rail. The days of us acting as an independant, risk-taking nation are over. There are no dreams here any longer, we just sell resources, don't do much of anything else really. If we do try to create anything, it turns into a regional battle of self-hatred "Well we can't believe that the 'not made in my part of Canada' company got that contract!!

Recipe for a winner nation..

Fucked up, Canada is. You're lucky to be American!

Not really that lucky, at least not in this aspect. I don't know if HSR in Canada would ever be subject of vicious partisan rancor like it has been down here. In Florida, the governor cancelled HSR, which was in planning and almost ready to be built. The same thing happened in Wisconsin and Ohio. The NEC, California and the Illinois corridors still have significant political fights ahead of them.

Like I said, the other major nations of the Americas will probably have HSR long before "we" do.

[habfanman]

Originally Posted by Ayreonaut

Self-loathe much?

I try to be realistic and not delude myself into thinking that Canada is the be-all and end-all of nations. I'm not your typical smarmy, smug Canadian.

Name me a dream that this country has had in the last 20 years that hasn't ended in a 'who gets what' or 'what region paid for whatever' or 'why is this initiative getting money when it's not located in my immediate back yard'.

Pump oil, cut down trees, assemble other people's cars, produce nothing of value.. that's the reality of Canada, 2011.

Pretending otherwise serves no useful purpose.

[Policy Wonk]

Originally Posted by habfanman

I used to take the Turbo from Toronto to Montréal and it wasn't garbage,.

Indeed, they were so great they were withdrawn from service twice and scrapped after only twelve years of service and ahead of the scrapping of the National Steel Car CN rolling stock built between 1953 and 1959 from a pre-war design.

Amtrak gave up on the thing almost immediately and instead purchased the Turboliner based on the TGV001 and subsequent American built Rohr derivatives.

Like the Turbotrain Amtrak tried the LRC, determined it also to be garbage and bought more Turboliners. Bombardier having lost the Amtrak sale meant VIA Rail was getting the LRC whether they wanted it or not and they have been suffering the LRC ever since.

Amtrak left to its own devices would still be operating upgraded Rohr Turboliners but an arrangement with the State of New York for high-speed service fell through rendering them surplus. I am sort of astonished VIA hasn't jumped on the refurbished trainsets since the RTL-III is far superior to the LRC.

[jigglysquishy]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Ummm, have you ever driven Hwy 7?? There is a reason that every HSR study between Ottawa and Toronto has either gone through Smith Falls to Kingston or down to Brockville - the terrain is significantly easier to build on then the route you chose.

Going along Hwy 7 would likely double the cost as it is all through precambrian rock or water.

Never driven the number 7. I live in Saskatchewan.

I chose the route primarily because distance wise it is shorter.

[thurmas]

Enough picking on the military already — sakes! Canada still has one of the lowest military spending per gdp ratios in the world.Only 1.3% of our gdp goes towards military expenditures it's miniscule. They deserve the best planes and equipment possible after the — they put up with under Chretien in the 90's.Would I like to see high speed rail sure but there doesn't seem to be a huge ground sweel of support for it because North America is a car culture mentality.

[jigglysquishy]

Here's the thing though

Having a large military doesn't benefit Canadians. There is no external threat that requires billions in military spending.

HSR does benefit Canadians though. We are a country that was built on railroads and now we have terrible train service. Canada and the USA are the only first world countries without HSR. Decreasing travel times and costs, improving business relations between major Canadian cities. The entire Windsor-Quebec corridor will benefit from it.

[thurmas]

We don't have a large military though it's tiny. We don't even have 70,000 regular force members France, Germany and Britain have close to 300,000 members and these countries somehow have HSR. If we had no military we would be a laughing stock around the world. We are one of the 10 or 12 most powerful nations in the world we deserve a strong and powerful military. One area that could be cut to provide high speed rail is the $13 billion a year we give to Indian affairs which has not seen any improvement in the lives of First Nations peoples at all. Cut the spending and waste that goes to reserves that have no hope of prosperity because of corruption and that they are mostly stuck in the boonies where there are no decent jobs or schools.