With tracks gone, that timetable is now just a memory... while I would like to have seen it saved, things happen for a reason.
The end to end train time Fredericton to Halifax was over 8 hours; Google Maps says that one can now drive in 4:10.
The investment to raise that service to a meaningful highway competitive one would have been considerable. And while a schedule looks impressive on paper, remember that this was a one- or two-car RDC and not a five- or ten-car Rapido. Passenger counts were pretty modest..
Now compare the maritime highway map of 1982 to today's.
Was there enough money to have saved and cultivated this service? Certainly not through the 1990s when federal deficits were being slashed. Nor would it have been constructive to shift money away from highway construction to a rail service - the maritime highway network is not overbuilt. And look at all the physical plant which would have required life cycle replacement.... 1982 was 42 years ago, most of the track would be replaced in that period. The CN main line is a lot more spartan then back then; the added capital needed to retain capacity for a day train in each direction is substantial. And in Halifax, while we bemoan how CN has shoved VIA out of the way, that was done to improve port throughput.... what investment is needed to maintain VIA service while assuring the freight ?
We have a rose coloured view of those old timetables. What may look like a great train in a great corridor on paper does not describe the minimalist and decaying rail sytem that VIA was fighting a losing battle to maintain in 1982. Retrenchment, and focussing available investment capital on only the most essential and promising parts, was not wrongheaded.
- Paul
