General railway discussions

[Bojaxs]

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.

- The Union Pearson Express
- Oshawa GO station

But seriously, where would you put a terminus station in Toronto? I get the appeal of such a station and seeing all the trains lined up next to each other. But it's better to have stations with tracks that run through, no?

Because of all the terminus stations in London, a lot of folks in England complain that when they want to take rail through London, they often have to terminate at a train station, transfer to the tube for 1 or 2 stops, and then transfer to another train station just to keep heading in the same direction by rail.

 

[micheal_can]

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.

As I have had some time to think of it, The death of this railway, and other quieter railways are directly related to privatizing CN. Having an understanding that the crown corporation may not make an increasing profit year over year, but will serve all of Canada with railways that will keep businesses around is what made Canadian rural areas prosperous. With the strong desire to cut cut cut, a railway on the Island of Newfoundland, although attractive is pure fantasy so long as railways need to increase profit year over year.

 

[lenaitch]

As I have had some time to think of it, The death of this railway, and other quieter railways are directly related to privatizing CN. Having an understanding that the crown corporation may not make an increasing profit year over year, but will serve all of Canada with railways that will keep businesses around is what made Canadian rural areas prosperous. With the strong desire to cut cut cut, a railway on the Island of Newfoundland, although attractive is pure fantasy so long as railways need to increase profit year over year.

Your comment ignores the lines that always-privately-owned CP has abandoned over the years. CN was created by the government to save a number of failing privately owned railways. In some cases, it inherited essentially parallel lines that increasingly became more unprofitable, particularly as rural/small town Canada deindustrialized and moved away from LCL.

You can carry on discussing re-nationalization with other fans of it on the forum.

 

[crs1026]

As I have had some time to think of it, The death of this railway, and other quieter railways are directly related to privatizing CN. Having an understanding that the crown corporation may not make an increasing profit year over year, but will serve all of Canada with railways that will keep businesses around is what made Canadian rural areas prosperous. With the strong desire to cut cut cut, a railway on the Island of Newfoundland, although attractive is pure fantasy so long as railways need to increase profit year over year.

Your comment ignores the historical and logistical facts. The railway was seen as doomed in the 1960's, before anyone considered privatisation. It was a non-issue for CN's privatisation as it was already largely abandoned.

As noted, freight moves much faster by road than rail could deliver. St John's has a very active marine container terminal with pretty much daily service to the mainland. Small harbours exist in various locations eg Lewisporte that are close to the highway.

Dream all you like, but NL is not going to recover rail service.

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

Your comment ignores the lines that always-privately-owned CP has abandoned over the years. CN was created by the government to save a number of failing privately owned railways. In some cases, it inherited essentially parallel lines that increasingly became more unprofitable, particularly as rural/small town Canada deindustrialized and moved away from LCL.

You can carry on discussing re-nationalization with other fans of it on the forum.

I do not feel the solution is to re nationalize CN.It would cause more problems than it would solve. O know the railways was effectively doomed once TCH 1was built.Having said that, looking at the past, one of the biggest reasons for it's final demise is the privatization of CN and the subsequent goal of riding themselves of subdivisions that were money losing operations. PEI also had a railway and its demise happened around the same time. The late 80s into the 90s was a sad sight for railway operations.

And, yes, there is a whole other topic of CP's cuts. The difference is one was not a government agency. I may not like what a private corporation does, but when taxes go to something, I want to to be used to serve Canadians as best as possible.

Your comment ignores the historical and logistical facts. The railway was seen as doomed in the 1960's, before anyone considered privatisation. It was a non-issue for CN's privatisation as it was already largely abandoned.

As noted, freight moves much faster by road than rail could deliver. St John's has a very active marine container terminal with pretty much daily service to the mainland. Small harbours exist in various locations eg Lewisporte that are close to the highway.

Dream all you like, but NL is not going to recover rail service.

- Paul

I know NL isn't getting rail. I know the hurdles to it.

 

[Allandale25]

Plan will be released soon per this article.

Alberta passenger rail master plan coming within weeks: Transportation minister | Globalnews.ca

A passenger rail connection between Edmonton and Calgary has been talked about for more than a decade and could take even longer to develop.

globalnews.ca

 

[micheal_can]

Plan will be released soon per this article.

Alberta passenger rail master plan coming within weeks: Transportation minister | Globalnews.ca

A passenger rail connection between Edmonton and Calgary has been talked about for more than a decade and could take even longer to develop.

globalnews.ca

The federal government should support this. They are supporting ALTO.

 

[rbt]

Plan will be released soon per this article.

Alberta passenger rail master plan coming within weeks: Transportation minister | Globalnews.ca

A passenger rail connection between Edmonton and Calgary has been talked about for more than a decade and could take even longer to develop.

globalnews.ca

I really hope, for the sake of transportation in Alberta, this isn't a continuation of the TransPod FluxJet proposal. I know that company is waiting with cash-in-hand for government approval (this document) in order to build their 10km test track. Alberta benefits far more from a functional but moderate intercity solution in 5 years, not promises of something experimental and exceptional in 30 years.

 

[lenaitch]

The federal government should support this. They are supporting ALTO.

They probably will, given that federal governments providing funding to all sorts of provincial and municipal undertakings but, constitutionally, Alto does cross a provincial boundary.

I wonder if Alberta will encounter the 'ruining rural lifestyle' arguments.

 

[crs1026]

They probably will, given that federal governments providing funding to all sorts of provincial and municipal undertakings but, constitutionally, Alto does cross a provincial boundary.

I wonder if Alberta will encounter the 'ruining rural lifestyle' arguments.

It will be interesting to see a) whether the CPC takes the same 'anti' position that they are veering to with Alto and b) what Alberta's position is on who pays.

Pretty hard to demand Ottawa pays for nice things while proposing to go it on their own.

- Paul

 

[lenaitch]

Pretty hard to demand Ottawa pays for nice things while proposing to go it on their own.

I obviously don't know what's in the heart of Ms Smith, but I suspect she is playing from the 'Quebec gets stuff by whining and threatening to leave' playbook.