AnarchoSocialist
Active Member
KLM has a 10% ownership in NS HiSpeed, the new HSR service within the Netherlands. KLM also has code-sharing with Thalys and NS HiSpeed.
And KLM and Air France have merged, so this airline group is really into the HSR business.
Your very naive to think it would bankrupt Air Canada and Porter. Sure it would put flights for people going directly to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City at risk. But Bankrupt?
If you could take HSR to Ottawa/Montreal in the same time as a plane, but go from downtown to downtwon, then I don't see how Porter would be able to continue operating.
Ocean liners went out of business when jets started making long distance flights.
What does Porter have to do with Europe? What does HSR have to do with flights across oceans?Enjoy your HSR trip to Europe!
Holy Mackerel, people in western New York are more upbeat of us having a high speed service than we are..lol
Last time I checked the Quebec City to Windsor corridor is already "high-speed" per their standard. This is about fixing the St. Catharines to Buffalo leg.
Pretty surprised that Quebec would look to the French (ie. Alstom) given homegrown Bombardier interests.
Just look at Europe and see what HSR has done to travel. Short haul flights find their passenger load cut in half when new HSR routes open up. The reason is that for those distances HSR is the most efficient, comfortable, and usually fastest choice. Its because people genuinely find HSR a better way to travel that is has become so popular. Given enough support, and leading by the provinces. the Feds will quickly hope on to support it.
In Canada. HSR would be a vast improvement in travel over current options....in speed, comfort and cost. As for the airlines, Air Canada would live on for sure, and if Porter used the 8 - 10 year lead time to develop a business model focusing on serving destinations like St. Johns, Halifax, NYC, etc, it could reasonably continue on. And if you offered airlines a chance to own a small portion of the new HSR service, helping to compensate for loses with a new, potentially stronger source of revenue, the whole airline thing could be a non-issue.