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VIA Rail

kEiThZ said:
You should see how many of them travel by air. They don't give a damn about HFR. And HFR becoming a reality would hurt their Air Canada Elite status.
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Honestly if the feds and province wanted to environmentally put their money where their mouth is, there would be a rule that ministers had to take the train to anywhere that had a station. I wonder how fast we'd see rail travel improve then.
 
kEiThZ said:
I don't get it. Are they saying there's a lack of public support?
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(warning: politically inflammatory content)

I think it’s fair to say that Ontario municipal and Provincial pols have made only moderately supportive noise about this project without really joining ranks and driving anything forward as a must-have. That’s true even in Peterboro, where they seem to naively view HFR as a fait accompli, but show absolutely no impatience or angst with Ottawa‘s not getting on with it.

The Quebec Minister clearly wants the train to leave the station, which is refreshing, but he seems willing to bash Ontario to make that happen. That’s not normally how one wins friends and builds common purpose. One wonders if he is equally happy with not getting HFR so long as he gets the political benefit of making it all Ontario’s fault.

It also reflects an entitlement which the Minister from a narrow Quebec vantage point may not really appreciate. ie When Quebec stands up and says they really, really, really want something, Ottawa jumps to deliver it. Whereas when Ontario says they really, really, really wants something, Ottawa says “Meh” and waits to see how much grovelling Ontario is prepared to deliver. Can’t blame Ontario pols if they don’t jump to declare impatience and outrage when that’s not how things get done outside La Belle Province.

Yes, I’m jaded, and perhaps grinding an axe, but I would suggest there is more reality in my comments than some may be willing to admit. #Bombardier #SNCLavalin

- Paul
 
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crs1026 said:
(warning: politically inflammatory content)

I think it’s fair to say that Ontario municipal and Provincial pols have made moderately supportive noise about this project without really joining ranks and driving anything forward as a must-have. That’s true even in Peterboro, where they seem to naively view HFR as a fait accompli, but show absolutely no impatience or angst with Ottawa‘s not getting on with it.

The Quebec Minister clearly wants the train to leave the station, which is refreshing, but he seems willing to bash Ontario to make that happen. That’s not normally how one wins friends and builds common purpose. One wonders if he is equally happy with not getting HFR so long as he gets the political benefit of making it all Ontario’s fault.

It also reflects an entitlement which the Minister from a narrow Quebec vantage point may not really appreciate. ie When Quebec stands up and says they really, really, really want something, Ottawa jumps to deliver it. Whereas when Ontario says they really, really, really wants something, Ottawa says “Meh” and waits to see how much grovelling Ontario is prepared to deliver. Can’t blame Ontario pols if they don’t jump to declare impatience and outrage when that’s not how things get done outside La Belle Province.

Yes, I’m jaded, and perhaps grinding an axe, but I would suggest there is more reality in my comments than some may be willing to admit. #Bombardier #SNCLavalin

- Paul
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It's remarkable to me how HFR could be such a transformative project, with rail service returning to towns that lost it and creating lots of new possibilities (eg tourists travelling from Toronto to Montreal stopping off in Eastern Ontario for a B&B stay for a day or two to explore the area, commuters being able to live further out from Ottawa without a car, students having an easy return home on weekends), while Northeastern pols have campaigned vigorously for a return of Northlander service for almost a decade with no result. If Eastern towns do get this service they have no idea how lucky they are.
 
I'm a little confused, according to the article, HFR is now officially "paused" because there isn't enough political mobilization (whatever the F that means). Like seriously. Trudeau just announced $19 billion today for Covid PPE purchases and other additional Covid-related purchases, but they can't find the change for HFR.
 
tmlittle said:
It's remarkable to me how HFR could be such a transformative project, with rail service returning to towns that lost it and creating lots of new possibilities (eg tourists travelling from Toronto to Montreal stopping off in Eastern Ontario for a B&B stay for a day or two to explore the area, commuters being able to live further out from Ottawa without a car, students having an easy return home on weekends), while Northeastern pols have campaigned vigorously for a return of Northlander service for almost a decade with no result. If Eastern towns do get this service they have no idea how lucky they are.
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I suppose it is published or posted somewhere, but where is HFR intended to make stops? Other than perhaps Peterborough and Smiths Falls, perhaps Perth, if the only impact HFR has on the smaller enroute communities between Toronto and Ottawa is blasting through town every hour or so, perhaps severing private cottagers from their road access, I would not be surprised they aren't pounding at the door.
 
^ nothing beyond what's on VIA's website now has been published. A recent article suggested there will be community consultations as part of the $71 million study that's underway so I assume some of the material used at those consultations will be put online, either by VIA or the community groups themselves.
 
lenaitch said:
I suppose it is published or posted somewhere, but where is HFR intended to make stops? Other than perhaps Peterborough and Smiths Falls, perhaps Perth, if the only impact HFR has on the smaller enroute communities between Toronto and Ottawa is blasting through town every hour or so, perhaps severing private cottagers from their road access, I would not be surprised they aren't pounding at the door.
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This is the real problem I see with the proposal in the article.

Getting local towns to support HFR so it goes through is a bad idea imo.

The only way they will support it is if they have a station stop in their Hamlet.

That means HFR becomes a 30 stop milk run with slower speeds than we currently have.

Perhaps there could be a deal where 1 train a day makes flag stops along the line, but that would be hard to do unless it was the last train of the day, or else it would slow the whole system down
 
robmausser said:
Perhaps there could be a deal where 1 train a day makes flag stops along the line, but that would be hard to do unless it was the last train of the day, or else it would slow the whole system down
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This is exactly what is done with Port Hope, Trenton Junction, Napannee and Gananoque, where the only eastbound trains stopping there are the last 3 Toronto-Ottawa trains with 54 (departing 17:40 and stopping in PHOP, TRTJ and NAPN), 48 (departing 18:40 and stopping at all four stations) and 650 (departing 19:35 and stopping at PHOP before terminating in Kingston). However, if you take the last train before that (646, departing 16:35), you can even skip Cobourg and Kingston, as it only stops in Oshawa, Belleville and Fallowfield en-route...
 
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robmausser said:
This is the real problem I see with the proposal in the article.

Getting local towns to support HFR so it goes through is a bad idea imo.

The only way they will support it is if they have a station stop in their Hamlet.

That means HFR becomes a 30 stop milk run with slower speeds than we currently have.

Perhaps there could be a deal where 1 train a day makes flag stops along the line, but that would be hard to do unless it was the last train of the day, or else it would slow the whole system down
Click to expand...

Does HFR men no local stops? For instance, Peterborough, It most likely will have a stop. The the hamlets, likely not. However, maybe 1 train each way a day to some of them.
 
Urban Sky said:
This is exactly what is done with Port Hope, Trenton Junction, Napannee and Gananoque, where the only eastbound trains stopping there are the last 3 Toronto-Ottawa trains with 54 (departing 17:40 and stopping in PHOP, TRTJ and NAPN), 48 (departing 18:40 and stopping at all four stations) and 650 (departing 19:35 and stopping at PHOP before terminating in Kingston). However, if you take the last train before that (646, departing 16:35), you can even skip Cobourg on Kingston, as it only stops in Oshawa, Belleville and Fallowfield en-route...
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Doing this on HFR is worse. They are even smaller towns with fewer riders. Really worries me that we're back to trading thousands of riders in the Metros for dozens of riders in the Hamlets.
 
Would there not be an opportunity to do an express version. Ie. Toronto -> Peterborough -> Ottawa -> Montreal for example to cut those times down and try to win some of the business class from the airlines. While also having a more commuter based train that goes to the hamlets. Almost like Amtrak does with an Acela express that goes to limited stations and is business oriented and then a more regional rail approach. I'm sure that would likely involve more tracking (passing tracks) and what not.
 
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