Rail Service Between Winnipeg and Brandon

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by roger1818

I agree it would be more psychological than anything. You would be surprised how many people are happy that they have train service or upset that they don't even though they don't ever use it. The amount of investment would be minimal and would go a long way towards spreading goodwill. It could also be marketed as a benefit to tourists using the Canadian, since Regina is the Provincial Capital.

I thought the twice a week was a temporary thing and the plan was to bring it back to 3 days a week eventually. Regardless, at some point we will need to figure out a way to fix the delays on the Canadian. That will take significant political will though.

What is the economic value of those individuals' increased happiness, now they have theoretical access to a practically useless train they will never use? There will be some dollar value you could place on it, but it would likely be far less than the cost of providing the service. Better to build very expensive infrastructure where there is actually real demand, rather than based on "wouldn't it be nice if we had a train?".

[biguc]

Originally Posted by Andy6

I have always suspected that it would be cheaper for the government to pay for on-demand limousine service for everyone who would actually use these imaginary trains than it would be to build them and run them.

Both would induce demand. A limo service would burn money on people taking frivolous, free limo rides. A rail line would create a nascent rail culture and a piece of infrastructure that would be useful for generations.

The cheapest thing to do is nothing, which is what Manitoba always does, and what they always get in return.

[Urban_Sky]

Originally Posted by biguc

Both would induce demand. A limo service would burn money on people taking frivolous, free limo rides. A rail line would create a nascent rail culture and a piece of infrastructure that would be useful for generations.

The cheapest thing to do is nothing, which is what Manitoba always does, and what they always get in return.

But what if the demographics in Manitoba (only 1 CMA and 5 CAs) are simply not conducive to operating intercity passenger rail services with at least modest expectations about ridership and cost-recovery?

Population in Manitoba: 1,278,365 (All figures are from the 2016 Census)
Population in Winnipeg (CMA): 778,489 (i.e. 60.9% of entire province)
Population in Brandon (CA): 58,004 (i.e. 4.5% of Manitoba or less than 1/13th of Winnipeg)
Population in Winkler (CA): 30,297 (2.4% of Manitoba)
Population in Steinbach (CA): 15,829 (1.2% of Manitoba)
Population in Thompson (CA): 13,678 (1.1% of Manitoba)
Population in Portage la Prairie (CA): 13,304 (1.0% of Manitoba)
Rural (i.e. outside of CMAs/CAs) population in Manitoba: 368,765 (28.9% of Manitoba)

Note that this does of course not dismiss the case for Urban or Commuter Rail in Winnipeg...

[WildCake]

Economics aside, even if a rail line would be built between the two cities, it would likely have to be fast enough to do Brandon-Winnipeg in <1 hour to get ridership.

The current car culture in Winnipeg is so ingrained as a result of lackluster transit funding, cheap downtown parking, and fairly short commutes. Most people have personal vehicles and transit is usually slow (if you need to get to this hypothetical train station by public transport).

Taking a 15-30 minute drive to a YWG airport or downtown train station, pay for parking, ride the train, and then likely take a cab in Brandon, and have to reverse that on the way back is a hassle and a half. The trip by car takes 2.5 hours and you have the flexibility of driving yourself around.

Most vehicles can do a round trip to Brandon and back on one tank of gas, so a train ticket would have to beat that price, and perhaps cheaper as you can carpool.