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VIA Rail

robmausser said:
Theres nothing delusional about coming into Toronto. Its possible to use one of the Metrolinx owned corridors, like the Stoufville line to come into Union.

The only issue is Montreal really.
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Sure, if you are fine with being stuck behind a GO train all the way from Mount Joy to Union Station, you can do just that, but you should be aware that the current travel time of a GO train between these two stations is 55 minutes. Also, you would have to create a new ROW from Gare Centrale all the way to the Alexandria Subdivision…

robmausser said:
Regardless of whats technically feasible, CP and CN have said no. They both have banned catenary in their corridors.
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I don’t believe that they’ve ruled it out, but as @smallspy and @crs1026 have tried to tell you, they would be very reluctant to accept Overhead Catenary Electrification if it only provides them tangible disadvantages and no advantages. Offer CN financial incentives to electrify all the way from Tascherau Yard to McMillan Yard and they might start to consider your offer. Maybe, however, the solution is simpler and they’d accept electrification if electrified and non electrified tracks were separated by a solid wall. Who know’s…

kEiThZ said:
And unfortunately that leaves a lot of room to cancel for the next government.
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I’m hopeful that there are enough shades of gray between Trudeau’s CAHSR-style proposal and total cancellation which will allow PP to come up with a sensible compromise which simultaneously allows him to cater to fiscally conservative voters as well as business leaders…
 
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robmausser said:
This is exactly it. If HFR wasn't feasible, then HSR isn't, so that doesn't make sense.

It probably turned out that HFR would cost say $5 Billion, and HSR cost $40 Billion, and there was a much greater ROI for the latter.

This could be exactly for the reason you hinted at: without straightening the curves on the route through Peterborough to Perth, it probably slowed down the HFR proposal dramatically. Like to the point that it wasn't any faster than the existing trains on the CN line.

Straightening the curves turned out to cost so much, at that point you might as well pay a bit more and make the thing HSR.

It might very well be that through that section they just propose to run the whole line in an elevated guideway that passes over all the geology that caused the curvy route in the first place, and you get full grade separation over roads to boot.

Once you do that, you basically already have a formula for HSR.
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The CBC is reporting that the government chose a vendor to build HSR
 
Urban Sky said:
Of course they have, but we’ll only learn who the lucky winner is at some point in November. I just hope that the reputation of SNC-Lavalin (even after obscuring its name) is still so toxic that someone else than Cadence wins the contract…
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remember Chretien's first press briefing regarding the 1990 maritime helicopter project when he be came PM? I can quote:

"this is what i will write on the check: ZERO" that turned out to be a wonderful time that led to the problematic cyclone helos we have today.
 
cplchanb said:
remember Chretien's first press briefing regarding the 1990 maritime helicopter project when he be came PM? I can quote:

"this is what i will write on the check: ZERO" that turned out to be a wonderful time that led to the problematic cyclone helos we have today.
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I was born in 1989 and didn’t touch North American soil before 2009, so I unfortunately don’t remember that press briefing… 🤣
 
Urban Sky said:
I was born in 1989 and didn’t touch North American soil before 2009, so I unfortunately don’t remember that press briefing… 🤣
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dont worry i was being rhetorical. every successive govt strives to undo the previous govt's legacies to cement their own regardless of merit. PP literally wants to mark his territory with his PP plans
 
cplchanb said:
dont worry i was being rhetorical. every successive govt strives to undo the previous govt's legacies to cement their own regardless of merit. PP literally wants to mark his territory with his PP plans
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History and voters will surely distinguish between the Prime Minister who delivered only insignificant media “announcements” and the one who actually gave the green light and got shovels into the ground…
 
Urban Sky said:
History and voters will surely distinguish between the Prime Minister who delivered only insignificant media “announcements” and the one who actually gave the green light and got shovels into the ground…
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Even If it's not formerly announced, the fact that a decision has been made will mean ink on paper. Cancelling that would be the same as cancelling the Eglinton Subway, only to be built 30 years later at 10x the cost. Not to mention the penalties to be paid out. However until a formal announcement is made we don't know.
 
Bordercollie said:
Even If it's not formerly announced, the fact that a decision has been made will mean ink on paper. Cancelling that would be the same as cancelling the Eglinton Subway, only to be built 30 years later at 10x the cost. Not to mention the penalties to be paid out. However until a formal announcement is made we don't know.
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The formal decision will be made at the end of the “Co-development” phase which will only start this year and which will last multiple years. It’s explicitly acknowledged that the final investment decision will only be made then:
IMG_6975.jpeg
 
Urban Sky said:
Sure, if you are fine with being stuck behind a GO train all the way from Mount Joy to Union Station, you can do just that, but you should be aware that the current travel time of a GO train between these two stations is 55 minutes. Also, you would have to create a new ROW from Gare Centrale all the way to the Alexandria Subdivision…
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Theres space on the Stouffville corridor for a 3rd track, especially with the Scarborough RT gone.... heck theres space for 4 tracks in that area now.

It would be entirely feasible to work in a MX corridor, rather than a CN or CP one. Its not like after spending 60 billion dollars they would just connect the HSR track to the existing Metrolinx track. LOL!

Heck, other than MX corridors theres not many other ways to get downtown...
 
robmausser said:
Theres space on the Stouffville corridor for a 3rd track, especially with the Scarborough RT gone.... heck theres space for 4 tracks in that area now.

It would be entirely feasible to work in a MX corridor, rather than a CN or CP one. Its not like after spending 60 billion dollars they would just connect the HSR track to the existing Metrolinx track. LOL!

Heck, other than MX corridors theres not many other ways to get downtown...
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I’m not worried about the part of the Stouffville Corridor which is South of crossing underneath the Belleville Sub, where Stoufville trains currently only stop at a single station (Kennedy), which would even be a plausible HxR stop location. However, you would need to overtake at least one (better: two or three) Stoufville trains north of the Belleville Sub and for each train you want to overtake, you’ll need an Express track which covers two neighboring stations and the line inbetween. I’d be very surprised if the current plans for expanding and electrifying the Stouffville Corridor make any such provisions for HxR…
 
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robmausser said:
Theres space on the Stouffville corridor for a 3rd track, especially with the Scarborough RT gone.... heck theres space for 4 tracks in that area now.
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No there isn't. The corridor is only wide enough for 2 tracks.

The SRT was built entirely outside of the now Metrolinx corridor. It could be purchased, but it only extends from Ellesmere to Eglinton, meaning that the stretches to the north (Ellesmere to north of the 401) and south (Eglinton to Scarborough Junction) would need to be resolved.

Plus, that also assumes that the TTC doesn't want to keep their corridor - which they do.

robmausser said:
It would be entirely feasible to work in a MX corridor, rather than a CN or CP one. Its not like after spending 60 billion dollars they would just connect the HSR track to the existing Metrolinx track. LOL!
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Anything is feasible with enough money. Which of the three is going to be the most amenable to any sort of sharing arrangement, however?

robmausser said:
Heck, other than MX corridors theres not many other ways to get downtown...
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There are no other ways to get downtown, short of tunneling on new alignments.

Dan
 
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