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VIA Rail

nephersir7 said:
Multiple problems with your proposal.

1. Missing connections: The tracks to reach the Port from the north shore no longer exist. Also, Central Station can't be reached from the Port of Montreal tracks

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2. CPR, the Port of Montreal and CNR most definitely don't want passenger trains on these tracks of theirs.

3. Routing trains through the Old Port is not practical at all. Trains crawling through there need human security presence at pretty much each crossing.


And despite that there are several accidents.

https://globalnews.ca/news/635134/woman-in-critical-condition-after-run-over-by-train-in-old-port/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/amphibus-train-collision-old-port-1.3798282
Click to expand...

Ok, what about option 2?

iG4ITOQ.png
 
Option 2 is just routing the Trois Rivieres trains over the same route as the current Jonquiere services. I believe they have a slow route through the CN/CP yards and have to get slots from there into Central.

I have a different idea - VIA simply abandons the TR idea and the Jonquiere route and tells Quebec to run those trains into A40 if they want them. But the chances of VIA being that ballsy are approaching zero for several reasons.
 
crs1026 said:
It simply is not a step forward to have connecting services that don't all connect at a single unified depot. Have we not learned anything from the past? Or from other cities (London and Paris being two remarkable examples)?
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VIA lost access to the Mont Royal tunnel when the electric locomotives were retired. If they had picked up a couple of retired Amtrak AEM-7s or something maybe they could have towed the Jonquiere trains through the tunnel and "retained their interest".

Now what is going to result is essentially Boston North and Boston South with REM as the Orange line, and a similar awkward passage to get trains from one side to the other for servicing purposes.
 
DSC said:
Doing transit planning from a map is never a good idea (look at Tory's transit plans!). Having trains run along the Montreal waterfront is a total non-starter.

The real question is: How many current passengers take VIA from Quebec City to/from Toronto direct? Even if speeded up a bit, it would be a long trip and one maybe better done by air.
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Quebec toronto is not the main focus. Quebec montreal, quebec ottawa and other destinations within quebec (the province) is the focus
 
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...llion-request-for-new-trains/article37714915/

So VIA gets new rolling stock. And HFR is put off for more study.

I can't vote for this government again. They will have put up over $50 billion in deficit in their first term and they couldn't find a few billion to get working on HFR? I voted for them because I wanted this project. I'd rather vote for Scheer now. At least, I won't get more piled on to the debt.
 
crs1026 said:
^ Looks like Ottawa is finally willing to test drive the equipment pitch publicly. That's very encouraging.

I'm still anxious for the HFR pitch, mostly because the IB continues to be vapourware at this point. Surely those studies are done by now, also. Having a long, hypothetical discussion behind closed doors about whether investors would support the plan is no substitute for putting the plan out there and seeing who shows interest.

- Paul
Click to expand...

I think the real issue is that the feds are struggling to find investors. Any time you find private sectors investors for such projects it's usually institutional investors who don't want to take risk. They buy the infrastructure after it's built and run it. Or they want the government to put substantial skin in the game.

If they found any sort of serious investment, they'd have launched of at least started the EA by now.
 
dowlingm said:
We're going to connect Quebec City and Montreal by two different routes, while Calgary and Edmonton are connected by zero routes. Great little country we have all the same.
Click to expand...

Dont forget Toronto to Windsor will also be a completely different route (Ontario High Speed Rail)

From Windsor and want to get to Quebec City? No problem.

Just hop on an Ontario HSR train to Toronto. Pay a different fare and wait for a Toronto to Montreal HFR ViaRail train. Then get off at Central Station in Montreal and take an REM train with your luggage and a different fare and then get on another ViaRail HFR train at a different station in Montreal.

It's simple!
 
innsertnamehere said:
Want to go from London to Berlin? it's simple! hop on the eurostar and head under the chunnel. In Brussels, transfer to an ICE international to Cologne. In Cologne, transfer to an ICE into Berlin. Simple!
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We should obviously compare travel in different European countries to different provinces within the same country... and isn't DB looking to do direct London-Frankfurt service? http://www.cityam.com/260147/getting-brexit-ready-german-rail-operator-revives-plans
 
innsertnamehere said:
Want to go from London to Berlin? it's simple! hop on the eurostar and head under the chunnel. In Brussels, transfer to an ICE international to Cologne. In Cologne, transfer to an ICE into Berlin. Simple!
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Wow yeah, who would have thought that transferring between different countries would be so complicated?
 
in a single eurozone? It's not that different than crossing the provincial border.

My point is that travelling 1,000+km on a train like doing Windsor-QC is going to need a transfer. Not many people make train trips that long, most would fly.

It's also not unheard of to require short metro trips to transfer in a city. For example, if you are coming from Birmingham and want to go to Paris after HS2 is finished you will need to hop on the tube in London to transfer to the eurostar.
 
Cross platform is one thing but transfer across town is another. That is the historical reality in places like London and Paris, mostly because railways were retrofitted to an already built city in days when the term 'network' was not understood. We ought to do better with new builds than they did in the mid 1800's.

- Paul
 
kEiThZ said:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...llion-request-for-new-trains/article37714915/

So VIA gets new rolling stock. And HFR is put off for more study.

I can't vote for this government again. They will have put up over $50 billion in deficit in their first term and they couldn't find a few billion to get working on HFR? I voted for them because I wanted this project. I'd rather vote for Scheer now. At least, I won't get more piled on to the debt.
Click to expand...

kEiThZ said:
I think the real issue is that the feds are struggling to find investors. Any time you find private sectors investors for such projects it's usually institutional investors who don't want to take risk. They buy the infrastructure after it's built and run it. Or they want the government to put substantial skin in the game.

If they found any sort of serious investment, they'd have launched of at least started the EA by now.
Click to expand...

Be patient. The Infrastructure Bank is just getting rolling, and HFR will be approved soon. They aren't struggling to find investors, its just investors prefer mega-projects, and they take time to go through approvals.

Also, didn't we establish earlier that VIA HFR doesn't need an EA? Could be wrong on that though.
 
Honestly, I find it less silly that you need to transfer in Montreal when going from Toronto to Quebec City than it is ridiculous that there is no grade separated highways completely connecting Montreal and Toronto.

And some of the outrage over the lack of network connectivity should be directed at the need for a transfer at Union when going from Lakeshore East to Lakeshore West, or the lack of through-routing of other GO lines.
 
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