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General railway discussions

micheal_can said:
If you have a small window to ship ore, putting it on larger ships makes more sense.
Remember, both the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay freezes for around the same length of time, at the same time.
If it were feasible to extend a line as close to the island on the mainland, that would make it even better. I doubt there is enough ore to warrant even looking into it.
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That assumes a North American customer base.
 
Interesting YouTube video about the current railroad landscape in Australia. Video focuses heavily on Australia's struggle with freight rail. Specifically around shipping containers and the difficulties they've had in building a line that connects all their major population areas. Due to this, the country is overly dependent on trucks to move goods in and out of ports.

I know a lot of folks here like to slag on the two major freight companies that dominate Canada, but it cannot be overstated how incredible it is that we can send a fully, double stacked, container train from one end of this country to the other, while stopping at just about every major city along the way.

While we may look at other countries' passenger rail with envy, a lot of those same countries look at our freight rail with envy.

 
The region of Peel has awarded a $7.6 million contract for detailed design work on the Coleraine Drive grade separation in Bolton.

(EDIT: There is a document on the region's website where staff say construction of the Coleraine Drive grade separation is expected to begin around 2030.)

Separately, the region put out a tender for an environmental study for the grade separation of King St in Bolton, but that tender seems to have been withdrawn by the region before a bid was awarded.
 
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www.railway.supply

Hitachi Rail Toronto headquarters investment targets summer 2026

Hitachi Rail Toronto headquarters investment plans call for close to C$30 million to create a new Canadian headquarters in Toronto. The company says this reinfo
www.railway.supply www.railway.supply
Hitachi Rail Toronto headquarters investment plans call for close to C$30 million to create a new Canadian headquarters in Toronto. The company says this reinforces its long-term presence in Ontario and its signalling technology operations, according to Hitachi Rail. At the same time, the office is planned for Consilium Place in the Scarborough district and is scheduled to open in summer 2026...
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Cando acquition.

Cando and Savage Rail to Combine – Cando Rail & Terminals

www.candorail.com www.candorail.com

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I'll park this here since I don't think we have a railway fantasy thread.

Admiral Beez said:
One fantasy rail on my mind is Newfoundland and its narrow gauge network. There are multitudes of towns between Port Aux Basques and Terrenceville that could have been connected by rail to the capital, helping these towns to survive. But as they say on the Riverbank, that's another story (for another thread).
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Such a railway did exist, but it became unprofitable to operate.

It would truly be a fantasy to expect a long distance, cross province heavy rail line - just for passenger service.
 
lenaitch said:
I'll park this here since I don't think we have a railway fantasy thread.



Such a railway did exist, but it became unprofitable to operate.

It would truly be a fantasy to expect a long distance, cross province heavy rail line - just for passenger service.
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Could freight operations return?
Could an NL container terminal be built to serve the Island?
 
micheal_can said:
Could freight operations return?
Could an NL container terminal be built to serve the Island?
Click to expand...
I don't know what economic conditions are needed to greenfield a railway (which that would essentially be) but I highly doubt it. I don't know what favourable condition exists now that didn't exist in the 1980s when the line was lifted. The population of the island is about 525,000 with about half of that living on the Avalon (where St. John's is). The other 'major population centres' are all under 20K, some well under. That's like London, spread over an entire province. St. John's has a container port, but by the time a train was made up and trundled across the province a seacan on a truck could have been there two days earlier.
 
lenaitch said:
I'll park this here since I don't think we have a railway fantasy thread.



Such a railway did exist, but it became unprofitable to operate.

It would truly be a fantasy to expect a long distance, cross province heavy rail line - just for passenger service.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The completion of the TCH across Newfoundland in the 1960s as a high quality two lane highway doomed the railway as a viable operation though it lingered on another two decades. The 100-series highways in Nova Scotia did the same there, with the exception of the CN mainline to Halifax, with the branch line to Canso just hanging on (between there and Sydney, it’s dead).

Private sector railways need enough bulk goods to be viable as a freight branch line (with minimal ROW maintenance) or enough long-distance bulk and container traffic for a mainline built to standards where a passenger train can run at reasonable speeds.
 
Did Toronto ever consider having a terminus passenger station, like we see in London? I always like walking up to the trains in a grand hall rather than under or over them. The only thing similar I’ve experienced in Canada is Quebec City’s station.
 
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