Quote:
Originally Posted by ue
Anyway, yeah, Winnipeg has a lot of rail lines. I could maybe see a commuter rail to Transcona, but that's about it, and honestly it's close enough that it'd be better served by a full functioning LRT line that runs along or adjacent to Regent, stopping at Kildonan Place before heading downtown either via Elmwood or St Boniface. While not as cheap as repurposing existing ROWs, Winnipeg has plenty of room for LRT down its countless stroads. And would function better than commuter rail as an urban transit than locating stations out in no mans land along rail lines. I mean, you already see this problem with the Blue Line, which has a terrible routing along light industry, poor connectivity to nearby dense areas, and that annoying dog leg. Lockport and Selkirk I can see a commuter rail service too, and perhaps St Anne and Steinbach. I would also argue Headingley could have commuter rail, but given it makes much more sense to run an LRT down Portage to Unicity, a short commuter line to Headingley from there doesn't make sense. A line to Niverville and maybe Oak Bluff I could also see being feasible.
Winnipeg would also benefit from a wider regional network that introduces (or re-introduces) regular rail service to Gimli, Winnipeg Beach, Kenora, Falcon Lake, Beausejour, Lac du Bonnet, St Agathe, and Morris, with enhanced service to Portage la Prairie.
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The tricky thing with rail lines in the Winnipeg area other than the 2 east-west CN/CP main lines and the 3 north-south CN/CP/BNSF secondary mains, is that the rest are branch lines in various states of decrepitude. For instance, the line to Gimli has been badly neglected to the point where the speed limit is 40 km/h... that's fine for a once a week train consisting of 5 grain hoppers and 5 tank cars, but you can't run a passenger rail service at that speed. Yes, the right of way is there but the costs of roadbed, rails, signalling, etc. would pretty well meaning building a new rail line from scratch. And there is no way that the traffic generated by trains to Gimli could justify that cost.
At least with the places along the main lines (Kenora, Portage la Prairie, Brandon) the infrastructure and population are already there to support a basic level of service at reasonable operating speeds. But do CN and CP want passenger trains clogging their already busy main lines? Probably not. I'm not sure how you get over that hurdle.