VIA High Frequency Rail Project

[jiml]

Critics suggest that this project could undermine funding for VIA:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rail-toronto-quebec-via-1.7463323

 

[railiner]

Critics suggest that this project could undermine funding for VIA:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rail-toronto-quebec-via-1.7463323

So if I understand this correctly, they are saying that only 10% of ridership on VIA Rail comes from outside their “corridor routes”, but 20% of their revenue does. That seems to contradict their assertion that taking the corridor away from VIA Rail would hurt the non-corridor routes. It would seem it’s the other way around, wouldn’t it?
Not sure.

 

[jiml]

The latest wrinkle in this story, as pointed out in other rail forums, is that the government's contribution to this project has yet to be funded, leaving them access to only a small percentage that was allocated to the study in a previous budget. Canada's parliament is not currently sitting and would need to do so in order to pass funding legislation. The Prime Minister cannot authorize this kind of money on his own via "executive order" or similar - especially with less than a month remaining in his mandate. According to an editorial piece in the National Post (sorry, pay-walled) it will be up to his successor as Liberal leader to decide whether to "feed the white elephant" by making it part of their election platform or "euthanize it" before an election is held. It is unclear how many of Mr. Trudeau's potential replacements favor going ahead. Supporters of the project have already voiced their opinions on how to vote to ensure the momentum continues.

 

[John Bredin]

That's the multi-billion dollar question. Reading between the lines of the analysis above suggests an element of a poison pill, with contracts being signed before the government's demise that will have huge cancellation penalties attached and make the project difficult to terminate. Of course they could also win re-election but that's a separate story for another venue.

If I were the sitting government in Canada, I would spin this project hard as a patriotic point of distinction between Canada and the U.S. Thus:

"They're retreating from fighting climate change. We're embracing that fight!"

[Video of sprawling American suburbs and congested American highways]"We're told we want to be just like them. No, we want to take our our own path! We always have, and we always will."[Video of landmarks in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City interspersed with computer animations of a Canadian HSR train hurtling along]

[Montage of Confederation figures and the building of the Canadian Pacific]"This nation was built in 1867 on the foundation of the railways. It will be strengthened again by new modern rail links."[Video of landmarks in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City interspersed with computer animations of a Canadian HSR train hurtling along]

Yes, I know Canada has sprawling suburbs and congested highways too, and the U.S. has the NEC. Go with the vibe. Canada sees itself (IMHO rightly, in light of present events) as the more responsible one. "Peace, order, and good government" vs. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

 

[MARC Rider]

If I were the sitting government in Canada, I would spin this project hard as a patriotic point of distinction between Canada and the U.S. Thus:

"They're retreating from fighting climate change. We're embracing that fight!"

[Video of sprawling American suburbs and congested American highways]"We're told we want to be just like them. No, we want to take our our own path! We always have, and we always will."[Video of landmarks in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City interspersed with computer animations of a Canadian HSR train hurtling along]

[Montage of Confederation figures and the building of the Canadian Pacific]"This nation was built in 1867 on the foundation of the railways. It will be strengthened again by new modern rail links."[Video of landmarks in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City interspersed with computer animations of a Canadian HSR train hurtling along]

Yes, I know Canada has sprawling suburbs and congested highways too, and the U.S. has the NEC. Go with the vibe. Canada sees itself (IMHO rightly, in light of present events) as the more responsible one. "Peace, order, and good government" vs. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Not sure that would work. Canadian sprawl is just as bad as USA sprawl. The outskirts of Toronto are particularly bad in this regard, and from what I understand, housing prices in central Toronto are so high that regular people have to end up living in sprawlsville, just like they do in the USA. Not sure how high speed rail will help with that. High speed rail won't do much to mitigate climate change, either. What people need to do is (1) live in apartments in dense walkable towns and cities, (2) ride transit, bicycles walk, and (3) eat a mostly vegetarian diet.

They should probably focus on upgrading the current VIA Corridor tracks to enable more frequent and higher speed running, mostly by getting rid of bottlenecks. But spending all the big dough on getting 200 mph trains may well be a waste of money.

The only thing that might appeal to Canadian Nationalism is the fact that the USA has the NEC (and maybe the Pacific Surfliner, too), and the VIA corridor isn't quite up to those standards. But the NEC runs pretty well at a maximum speed of 150 mph and point to point average speeds of 70-80 mph.

On the other hand, Toronto (and maybe Montreal), at least, has much better urban transit than most cities in the USA.