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Originally Posted by acottawa
When have they ever said that? They want the hub to bring more passengers to the airport, not to have fewer passengers at the airport. Also, there is no way somebody from Ottawa is going to spend 3 plus hours on a train to catch a flight at Pearson.
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That hub isn't about Ottawa. Saving slots to London and Kingston would be very useful to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
That is pretty much the definition of the idea phase. "Hey, lets get some renders we can show the government."
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It's a little more than renders. You don't need a major architectural firm to do design if you just want renders to show the government.
But I will grant you that it's still got a ways to go. The interesting bit here is that GTAA has substantial financial room on their balance sheet to build it. They are entirely capable of financing this without outside help. And this looks like a great candidate for the new CIB as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
Well, my perspective is that the electrification study was completed in 2010, it is now 2018 and not one meter of track has been electrified. Even Wynne's spending spree in the last year of the mandate got no electrification underway.
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Like i said, electrification is pointless without the enabling works. I'd argue the enabling works are far more important than electrification itself. That's a matter of comparing NPV of running diesel loco pulled vs. EMUs, considering lifecycle costs when the GO Trains are up for fleet renewal. As far as the network is concerned those enabling works are far more relevant. And they've been going quite well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
As far as I know none of those grade separations have been on track that could be conceivably used for any high speed rail.
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I'd argue that Georgetown South and Davenport Diamond are pretty damn important to any future HSR towards the airport and Southwestern Ontario. Ditto, the Union Station Rail Corridor Renewal and USRC East to have the capacity to have any hourly intercity service into downtown Toronto.
I am really surprised that you don't see any of this as a precusor to actually building regular intercity service.
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Originally Posted by acottawa
The Peterborough plan breaks every rule of getting infrastructure actually built. It inconveniences a half dozen ridings for the benefit of one riding and a few small villages along highway 7. It cannot be separated into more manageable phases. It offers no interim benefit while construction is underway. Citytech’s proposal addresses these roadblocks.
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Half a dozen very sparsely populated ridings will be inconvenienced to benefit over a dozen ridings (at least) in the three metros concerned. I'd argue that is eminently sellable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acottawa
In addition, even if political support is received, Via’s cost and time estimates are way off from other rail projects, so there is an extremely high likelihood that even if it gets political approval it would be stillborn when the tenders come back (or maybe Via went to the Joseph Potvin Academy of Cost Estimation).
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Until we know more, we can't be sure of the fidelity of the estimate. I'd like to think that VIA's planner are a bit more experienced and competent than Joseph Potvin. But sure, until their studies become public or we see more on a future RFP, it's hard to tell how much they are off. I expect it to rise. But I don't think they are significantly off either. I recall one of the last HSR studies quoted $12 billion for Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal. If they are using an existing corridor, with no grade separation for most of it, $4 billion could be feasible. I would guess closer to $5-6 billion. But I don't think we'll get some crazy estimate like double the cost when it's more fully studied.
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Originally Posted by acottawa
This proposal has been kicking around for years. The Tories have shown no interest, the Liberals have been ragging the puck for almost 4 years. You’re of the belief that Via passengers in Ottawa are a politically or economically important group. I believe that is a mistaken assumption.
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The Tories are practically allergic to any infrastructure that benefits cities, especially if it inconveniences rural blue ridings. The political calculus is very different for the Liberals.
I would bet money the reason it's taken this long to get going is because they've wanted the CIB to launch it as a hallmark project, and unfortunately the CIB has been slow to get off the ground. If it isn't in the next budget, I'll buy your argument.