I've travelled to five continents, been on a least twelve cruises, visited Canada from coast-to-coast, most of the U.S., been to Mexico at least 3 times, Central America, South America, Northern Africa, most of Europe, including Russia and several more countries than I care to mention, and you dare to suggest that I'm poor because I prefer taking a modern train!
Are you serious? Are you that limited in your understanding of passenger rail that you have the audacity of making such a blanket statement?
You want proof as to how wonderful and effective regular intercity passenger rail can be when properly funded and constructed! I ask that you click on the following YouTube website and you'll see just how fast 180 kph (111 mph) actually is; it is virtually identical to Via Rail's HFR maximum speeds of 177 kph (110 mph); and I'll just continue to sit back in my comfortable seat on the train while having a drink and a meal, enjoying WiFi, the scenery and going way faster than driving while you remain increasingly stuck in gridlocked traffic, as I've observed for almost 20 years while residing in the GTA:
You obviously haven't travelled by train throughout Germany, for instance, where over 2 billion passengers take the train annually because it's way faster than driving, significantly roomier, more comfortable and comparable in travel time to, and leaps and bounds more environmentally-friendly than flying!
Haven't you also heard of the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, to name just a few of the high-speed rail systems in use throughout the world?
It is we, in North America, that are completely out of step with the obvious limitations of our own transportation system!
If we had any clue as to how easy it is to get around in Europe, for instance, we wouldn't shake our heads in disbelief while we're frequently stuck in traffic for hours on a daily basis.
It's called focusing on a better 'quality of life' rather than the misguided notion that people who choose to take a train do so because they simply cannot afford to buy a car. That's absurd and an obvious example of how ill informed we are in this country!
In your travels, I ask that you just sit inside Frankfurt's main railway station in Germany, for instance, where an average of 450,000 travellers go through this facility on a daily basis; take the time to observe the type of travellers who actually use trains and you'll be shocked to learn that well-dressed businessmen and women, including the wealthy, and a well-rounded segment of society, take the train in order to get around quickly, effectively and efficiently!
Your sadly misguided words just prove the points that I've been making for years, thereby reinforcing the need to educate Canadians as to how backwards we have become on modern, intercity passenger rail and of the crucial need to deviate from the status quo on transportation, that of embracing auto and air travel whatever the cost to our environment, in order to also meet our carbon emissions targets ASAP!
Just ask a typical resident living in Northern Europe and you'll quickly get a sense as to how precariously fragile that particular area has become due to the magnified, destructive effects of climate change.
Europeans are taking climate change seriously, as opposed to climate change denial that is so prevalent on this side of the continent through our lack of action on the reduction of carbon emissions!
Europe's outstanding passenger rail systems allow communities to easily connect and interact with each another, creating a level of mobility that can only be dreamt of in this country.
It's also the reason why their small towns and cities remain prosperous in comparison to this country since young people aren't migrating to large cities in droves in order to find gainful employment and opportunity.
Unfortunately, even our own politicians fail to grasp the significance and importance of having a modernized passenger rail system in place in order to provide an additional, effective, and environmentally-friendly travel choice to Canadians.
I found that out after writing several detailed emails to some of our Federal Ministers requesting clarification as to the cause of incessant delays in approving the HFR project; I still haven't been able to obtain a firm timeline for the go-ahead of this vital project, which was proposed five years ago!
Choosing to travel by modernized passenger rail has absolutely nothing to do with a person's wealth, as evidenced in the vast majority of advanced countries throughout the world!
In fact, Europeans purchase a huge amount of new vehicles every year, so they certainly cannot possibly be branded as being poor, just because they choose to travel by train considerably more so than Americans or Canadians.
The EU's annual car sales figures are actually quite similar to those of the North American market as per the following website:
Global car sales by key markets, 2005-2020 - Chart and data by the International Energy Agency.
www.iea.org
So much for a fresh exchange of opinions and ideas with an open and informed mind! I'll leave it at that for now!
