VIA Rail

[Urban Sky]

Say that to your fellow forumers, I don't care but won't change my acronyms.

If you don't see any of the people discussing with you here as one of your "fellow forumers", then I sincerely wish you that you can find a different forum (in any language of your choice), where you will actually feel like a part of the community...

 

[p_xavier]

If you don't see any of the people discussing with you here as one of your "fellow forumers", then I sincerely wish you that you can find a different forum (in any language of your choice), where you will actually feel like a part of the community...

I don't care to be part of a community, I find that those who want to belong are quite too sensitive really. This is a public forum, not a AA group.

 

[sacred]

I don't care to be part of a community, I find that those who want to belong are quite too sensitive really. This is a public forum, not a AA group.

T’es vraiment fatiguant

 

[Northern Light]

I don't care to be part of a community, I find that those who want to belong are quite too sensitive really. This is a public forum, not a AA group.

Here's the thing, I come very close to agreeing w/you here, in that I have a great love of what I perceive to be logic.
Overall, I don't feel like logic should change from group to group.
We should all agree on a common set of facts and best practices.

Yet.......

I think the way you get there is by persuasion............
By changing people's minds about how they do things and why.
That requires a take that is persuasive more than.......adversarial.
One of the reasons for learning more than one language........and I speak 2.......and am learning a third and fourth........is that you want to be understood.
Not as an affirmation gesture, but intellectually.
You need to meet people where they are.............then you can, if they are open to it........offer people alternative ways of thinking and expressing themselves.
But you can't do that until they understand you.

 

[EnviroTO]

Not really the forum for it but... I agree with SI units as the goal even with currency. However i also accept that there is no common understanding on how to write currency and the point of language and typing your idea into a forum or onto a page is to have people understand it. If I give someone 10G CAD, 10K CAD, or 10M CAD all three could mean $10,000 CAD. For some 10M CAD is $10,000 CAD and for others $10,000,000 CAD. For $10K people seem sort of unanimous on $10,000. But then there is 10MM CAD which is $10,000,000. So unfortunately to be clear you need to put (where G$ = a billion dollars). To make it worse people mix the capitalization up. 1 ¤CAD, 1 k¤CAD, 1 M¤CAD, 1 G¤CAD... that makes the most sense to me and I think sane people should adopt it just like a yyyy-mm-dd short date format where most significant digit is on the left and least on the right like numbers so it sorts properly. However, you need to footnote or tell people you are using this more intelligent format when you do because people not understanding is not meeting the goal of communication and therefore the brilliance is lost.

 

[nfitz]

I thought ten 96 Gs was four and twenty and ten and six thousand dollars.

Slang terms for money - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Northern Light]

The Globe and Mail Editorial Board has chimed in on the HFR project:

Globe editorial: A better Via Rail might be possible, if only so much political baggage wasn’t on board

Via Rail is right to look at improving its most lucrative (or, rather, least unprofitable) business. But its proposal is a compromise solution, part business and part politics

www.theglobeandmail.com

In summary, HFR maybe, though nix service to Quebec City being part of the proposal; Toronto-Montreal travel time is too high, we're suspicious the Liberals are selling us some thin air ahead of an election.

 

[nrb]

Can someone explain to me why this should be routed through Peterborough instead of building a dedicated line along the lakeshore?

The population differences between the two are massive.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I am beyond disappointed at this immature response from someone who is supposed to be a minister-in-waiting. Leaves me with the impression that the CPC just sees VIA Rail as something useless that only Laurentian elites care about.

But really, hasn't it always been their unstated stand?

AoD

 

[smallspy]

Can someone explain to me why this should be routed through Peterborough instead of building a dedicated line along the lakeshore?

The population differences between the two are massive.

There is a potential former route - and thus, land - to the north through Peterborough.

There is no such thing to the south along the lake's shore.

Dan

 

[robmausser]

Can someone explain to me why this should be routed through Peterborough instead of building a dedicated line along the lakeshore?

The population differences between the two are massive.

It has to do with rail ownership.

CN and CP own the two rail lines along the lakeshore. They are two of some of the largest companies in Canada. They hold a huge amount of political clout.

Both do not want passenger rail or electrification anywhere near their lines. They allow VIA on their lines now, but as an afterthought.

In the 2000's an attempt was made to work with CN to add passing tracks etc in their corridors for VIA to pass their slow freight on. Not only did CN overcharge VIA for the work, but they made the agreement as such that they can use the passing tracks for their freight as well. Guess what happened, they did exactly that and we spent millions of taxpayer dollars to give CN new tracks for their freight. Passenger rail meanwhile got worse.

Thats the problem, all work in the lakeshore corridors, to even add tracks for dedicated rail, have to be done by CN or CP if its in their corridors. You can forget about electrification too.

The government buying up CN or CP is an unaffordable acquisition. To build their own rail lines in the lakeshore area would require massive land expropriation and would again be way too expensive and have NIMBY backlash out the wazoo.

The only feasible option in our current political climate is to buy up disused and rarely used rail lines in the north, upgrade them to Class 6 rail and electrify them.

And honestly, its not so bad. Other than the fact that there are some curve issues we have to deal with, it means we dont have to deal with CN/CP, and this train service is supposed to be an express service between major cities. Its not meant to be a milk run to service all the small towns along the way. Leave that up to the existing train service along Lakeshore. Besides, Having two services is better than one. As well, this train route is more direct to Ottawa, which is a huge destination in its own right, moreso than Kingston or other other smaller towns along Lakeshore.

 

[roger1818]

https://www.standard-freeholder.com/news/local-news/via-rail-statement-hfr-will-result-in-better-service-for-cornwall

 

[nrb]

It has to do with rail ownership.

CN and CP own the two rail lines along the lakeshore. They are two of some of the largest companies in Canada. They hold a huge amount of political clout.

Both do not want passenger rail or electrification anywhere near their lines. They allow VIA on their lines now, but as an afterthought.

In the 2000's an attempt was made to work with CN to add passing tracks etc in their corridors for VIA to pass their slow freight on. Not only did CN overcharge VIA for the work, but they made the agreement as such that they can use the passing tracks for their freight as well. Guess what happened, they did exactly that and we spent millions of taxpayer dollars to give CN new tracks for their freight. Passenger rail meanwhile got worse.

Thats the problem, all work in the lakeshore corridors, to even add tracks for dedicated rail, have to be done by CN or CP if its in their corridors. You can forget about electrification too.

The government buying up CN or CP is an unaffordable acquisition. To build their own rail lines in the lakeshore area would require massive land expropriation and would again be way too expensive and have NIMBY backlash out the wazoo.

The only feasible option in our current political climate is to buy up disused and rarely used rail lines in the north, upgrade them to Class 6 rail and electrify them.

And honestly, its not so bad. Other than the fact that there are some curve issues we have to deal with, it means we dont have to deal with CN/CP, and this train service is supposed to be an express service between major cities. Its not meant to be a milk run to service all the small towns along the way. Leave that up to the existing train service along Lakeshore. Besides, Having two services is better than one. As well, this train route is more direct to Ottawa, which is a huge destination in its own right, moreso than Kingston or other other smaller towns along Lakeshore.

Thanks for the explanation. But doesn't cp own the lines through Peterborough as well? There will still be land expropriation, and there is still freight being run on here from nephton, isn't there? I'm very much skeptical about this due to the politics and costs involved. A stop in Kingston and Belleville isn't any different than stops in Peterborough and Smiths falls (population 8,800).

 

[robmausser]

Thanks for the explanation. But doesn't cp own the lines through Peterborough as well? There will still be land expropriation, and there is still freight being run on here from nephton, isn't there? I'm very much skeptical about this due to the politics and costs involved. A stop in Kingston and Belleville isn't any different than stops in Peterborough and Smiths falls (population 8,800).

While CP owns the lines through Peterborough, its a very seldom used branch line, not their mainline to the south.

They are willing to sell off the branch line to Via, and only run the odd freight train at night, when VIA isnt operating.

 

[roger1818]

Thanks for the explanation. But doesn't cp own the lines through Peterborough as well? There will still be land expropriation, and there is still freight being run on here from nephton, isn't there? I'm very much skeptical about this due to the politics and costs involved. A stop in Kingston and Belleville isn't any different than stops in Peterborough and Smiths falls (population 8,800).

They do, but it isn't their main line. CP runs 3 trains a week each way on the Havelock Sub. and are only maintaining it to Class 1 standards, so it takes 12 hours to get from the Toronto Yard to Havelock. By letting VIA buy/lease the ROW and improve the track, CP can do the same trip in a couple hours, allowing them to do the return trip in one night (while VIA isn't using the track), which will save a lot of money in labour and equipment utilization, so it is a win/win.