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I hate to be pedantic, but it's kph. 250 mph would make it the fastest intercity line in the world.

Could it have been strategic? I.E. let's protect our little fiefdom and we don't have to deal with any other agencies and coordinate scheduling if we don't enable interoperability?

The province is putting in a fair chunk of coin for a serious evaluation of the viability of renewing passenger service: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-island-rail-corridor-funding-planning

On the Union station improvements for GO: https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/press-release/53026237/metrolinx-metrolinx-improving-union-station-transit-hub

This kind of thing is what turns military procurement into such a disaster so often. Don't plan on something which hasn't even been tested yet working reliably. On the other hand, the maximum annual political donation is around 3,400$ if I understand this table correctly. If and when I get out...

Spain's actually had a fair number of successful and attempted train bombings over the years, though.

A similar column in the Globe: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-via-rails-holiday-meltdown-shows-canadas-railway-policy-has-utterly/

Anecdotally: among my peers, which I must admit are all highly educated 20-somethings (and so not very representative), the number one reason they don't take Via much more often over Megabus or driving is one or more bad experiences with delays. HFR deals with that.

Also, a hefty part of the federal conservative brand is built on western enmity towards the east, which is obviously not part of Legault or Ford's appeal.

Interesting news about the performance of Chargers and their trainsets in cold weather: https://www.railwayage.com/news/severe-winter-weather-cancels-empire-builder/

Political points thought is an interesting one, though.

I don't want to pile on here, but the cost premium is really quite large, because of the requisite straightening and grade separations (you can go back a couple hundred pages in this forum to see extended discussion). Additionally, and something which cannot be emphasized enough: what matters to...

Sorry academic-speak: the hold up problem (and closely related incomplete contract problems) are a big topic in economics research. If one party can't count on the other reneging on an agreement ex post in some way, or extract appropriate damages, collectively valuable investment projects won't...

The major cost is in initial infrastructure and that's where real estate makes the difference. Any seriously viable rail corridor should be able to cover maintenance and operations from passenger revenues. At the same time, if passenger service stops, property values and rents will decline, so...

The point is that paying for passenger railroad infrastructure is a lot easier when the positive externalities on station area real estate values are internalized by the rail operator through things like station area developments.

Try 300 townhouses each. See e.g. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3466847

With all the Brightline discussion, I'm surprised nobody's brought up the other fundamental factor in its relative success (as well as the success of various Japanese rail firms)---real estate. There are enormous economic gains associated with developing the areas around transit hubs. Translink...

It's a massive infrastructure project that is very popular in certain regions with certain constituencies while much of the rest of the country thinks it's a gigantic boondoggle.

As someone who has been involved at various different times as a donor and volunteer with the Liberal Party, it pains me to have to agree with the consensus here. In particular, while I think there are a number of very talented and hardworking ministers trying to do big things (Jean-Yves Duclos...

I think their fuel efficiency and carbon advantage goes a lot further; what prevents longer distance rail travel from being feasible is the time and passenger demand for amenities like sleeper berths for trips longer than 6 or 8 hours. More than that, it's just not economically viable because...