We were discussing the Milton GO service (which I explicitly noted in the previous sentence). You had responded by saying "You are forgetting about the costs of accommodating AD2D RER service with CN's longhaul freights still on CN's Halton Sub."
Tell me - if they go to 2-way all-day service on the Milton line - what has this got to do with anything on the CN Halton sub - and why are there any costs for the CN Halton sub? You seems to be focussing on a long-dead fantasy plan about rerouting CP's rail service around Toronto, including a relatively short-bypass for CN around Brampton - ignoring that there's plenty of space along the Milton line for additional tracks.
Your argument makes sense, but only so long as it is viewed in a narrow sense that strips away the context.
A decision to twin the Galt Sub is not an engineered solution…it’s a negotiated solution. You can be sure that CP will use its full negotiating leverage, meaning they will impose every tool and objection they can mount…. not because it improves the design of the solution, but just because it extracts a more favourable outcome for CP and its shareholders. In money, and in their capacity and effectiveness.
The best strategy when faced with a tough negotiation is to consider the best alternative solution… if Honda won’t sell me the car I want at the price I want, will I try Toyota? In this case, the alternative to getting a deal with CP to twin the Galt Sub is to persuade CN to move to a new corridor, and to convince both railways to share that corridor and the existing CN corridor - despite being fierce competitors to each other. (Which are negotiated solutions in their own right). So yes, we immediately have to include CN in the debate.
Even without turning our minds to relative cost, it strikes me that the bypass alternative is just too complicated a proposition to negotiate under our legal, regulatory, and political regimes.
The Bypass began as a simpler proposition - move CN off the Halton Sub between Bramalea and Milton, because that option might be a cheaper way of building Kitchener GO than twinning the Halton Sub. A previous government did a fair bit of diligence, and (for a time) seemed to believe that bypass was the cheaper alternative. The plan quickly morphed (conceptually) into get CP off the Galt Sub as well, facilitating GO lines to Milton and across North Toronto plus the original Kitchener piece.
On a technocratic level I prefer the bypass to the twin-the-Galt alternative, because it solves multiple agendas. But it seems like a deck of cards to negotiate/legislate/regulate/sell to taxpayers.
So we are back to twinning the Galt, when we can afford it….and until the base RER and four subways are built and paid for, I doubt anyone has the cash to meet CP’s asking price
- Paul
