Quote:
Originally Posted by SIGSEGV
Yeah I looked at that and concluded that the abandoned (but as far as I can tell unencroached) ROW through Pembina would have to be restored, which is a big ask of course.
As for people preferring to have their own cars, it depends on what the plan is. There is also a strong preference to NOT to drive 7 hours if you can help it or fork $400/person to Delta. Depending on what someone's plans are, public transit or Uber are decent options. I don't have a strong sense of the travel market between Winnipeg / Grand Forks / Fargo / Minneapolis though.
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Are you talking about the gap between St. Thomas and Altona? That could be rebuilt, it's only 40 miles. Both CN and CP trains cross at on the Minnesota side with CN trains crossing the Red at Emerson and running up on the Letellier sub and CP trains staying east of the River and running up on the Emerson sub.
There are always going to be people who prefer to drive, the idea is to get a larger share of the market. There is a lot of traffic between southern Manitoba and Grand Forks and Fargo, esp. Grand Forks as that is the "Bellingham" or the "Buffalo" for this market. You should have seen the line-ups at the border when the C$ was closer to par. That city is really hurting right now as the border is closed. Many hotels were built for Canadian tourists. Fargo is much bigger so many go the extra 70 miles for the increased choices, plus it has a Costco and people here just love Costco. And it's a Costco with wine, beer and liquor, lol! It's rumoured that the Kirkland Vodka is actually Grey Goose, 60 oz. for around $20. Then there's some with money who go for medical treatments if they don't want to wait and also many Canadians use Grand Forks and Fargo for the airports as both are served by Allegiant. Yeah, it's a bargain basement airline but I've flown to Vegas for well under $100 return. I think I paid something like $139 for LAX return. The long term parking is a fraction of what is charged at YWG. So 1 3/4 hrs to GF or a 2 1/2 hour trip to Fargo, no line ups at the border, no weather, no construction, an uber to the airport, no parking fees, many would jump on board for that.
The Twin Cities are the regional metropolis for the Upper Midwest and many Canadians go there for a short vacation or even to go to a Vikes game, or to see the Jets play in Saint Paul. And there's so much to do there and it's not far to Wis. Dells. And then of course there's the North Shore which is absolutely beautiful. Americans come up to Manitoba because they can drink at 18, they like our beer for some reason, they absolutely love the pot shops, for concerts and culture, to see the Wild or the Hawks play here, they like the casinos and the beaches and then of course there are the many fly-in fishing lodges up north. I think a daily train would be well used, and again both Grand Forks and Fargo need better connections to the Twin Cities anyways, and the Cities themselves need a second daily train to Chicago. The needed improvements are about 140 miles, of which just about 65 are in Canada, although I would think Amtrak would expect a contribution for the section in the U.S. north of Grand Forks.
Manitoba needs to get on board with the Midwest Rail Initiative now. This project offers huge benefits for the province, plus for Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.
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