Urban Sky
Senior Member
You seem to take for granted that CP would let you electrify and use the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel for frequent HSR services...
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High Speed Rail: London - Kitchener-Waterloo - Pearson Airport - Toronto
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
That tunnel is over 100 years old, and will become a burden for CP in the coming years, especially since one tunnel is completely useless fo CP operations. In the intern, one tunnel (the one that was not upgraded for larger freight trains (double stack auto racks and double stacked containers)) can be used for HSR trains while the enlarged tunnel can be repurposed for passenger trains, which will likely not require the costly upgrades required for the second tunnel for freight operations.
kEiThZ
Superstar
There's a lot of things that would be nice. But this is Canada we're talking about. We talk a lot and put on a show and then quietly disappear when the bill comes to the table. See NATO Defence Spending Targets, Kyoto Climate Protocols, Rio Climate Agreement, Millennium Development Goals, etc. We sign on to any and every pledge to do something, tonguelash the Americans for not doing enough, and then don't bother with anything but a token effort when the media circus on the issue has moved on. It's the Canadian way!
HFR, if built, will be a massive accomplishment, and diversion from typical behaviour. Expecting more than that, is naive overreach given our history as laggards.
Towered
Superstar
If 15 years of a pro-transit provincial government couldn't even get this thing started, it's never going to happen.
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
I'd argue we only had 5 years of an actually pro-transit government. Nothing substantial happened under McGuinty (Vaughan aside), who always had an excuse as to why there would be funding next year.
Allandale25
Senior Member
^ What date did the Province announce MoveOntario funding?
christiesplits
Senior Member
A few questions about the economic rationale behind the High speed rail:
Are we certain that KW will remain a world-class high tech corridor 10-20 years from now? Could the tech bubble burst, or move abroad to cheaper labour pools?
Secondly, could telecommuting or the promise of congestion-free self-driving cars make the project a white elephant?
Thirdly, is the HSR between KW to London (or Windsor) worth it?
Are we certain that KW will remain a world-class high tech corridor 10-20 years from now? Could the tech bubble burst, or move abroad to cheaper labour pools?
Secondly, could telecommuting or the promise of congestion-free self-driving cars make the project a white elephant?
Thirdly, is the HSR between KW to London (or Windsor) worth it?
jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
Legitimate concern. Unlikely to happen in general, but the probability of it bursting is much higher without HSR than with HSR.
No cars are "congestion-free" not even self-driving cars. That notion itself is a fallacy being spread around by anti-transit advocates. Self-driving cars still need road capacity in order to travel efficiently. Low road capacity can make self-driving cars inefficient. Especially since self-driving cars could in theory be carrying 0 people in them. High capacity, high frequency, high speed transit between cities is far more efficient in moving people than self-driving cars would be.
It would certainly ease the congestion of long haul car trips to/from Toronto to/from London or Windsor.
TizianoTitian
New Member
So the conservative and the liberal will take turns, supporting and opposing the project and it will never get built.
steveintoronto
Superstar
Towered
Superstar
It's the Canadian way.
robmausser
Senior Member
Allandale25
Senior Member
Allandale25
Senior Member
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
I see that she is raving about Rural High Speed Internet (another perennial Canadian past-time) and ranting against High Speed Rail
AoD