This is an impressive (but very long!) read with some great analysis and tonnes of photos along the proposed alignment. Very much worth your time to digest over the Christmas break if you’re following along with high frequency rail developments in Canada.
@heliomass "VIA has tried to cover their ass by including the asterisked comment additional stations may be added….. but publicly they haven’t given any indications that they are seriously considering other stops beyond canned responses and lip service."
VAI is out of the loop sicne the minister created separate entity to receive the obbying by consulting firms and that HFR company didn't even bother accessing VIA ridership documents (as per their appearance at transport committee this fall)
@heliomass "But as good as Fallowfield has performed, Ste-Foy Station in the western suburbs of Quebec City has performed even better."
Ste-Foy also serves the Lévis/Charny area ever since Lévis lost its train service so people cross the bridge to take train. And Ste-Foy also near université Laval. (and also Orléans Express do brisk business at Ste Foy).
@jerome@heliomass I stand oorrected. It's the Montréal Halifax that no longer stops there. (but makes the huge detour to Ste Foy instead of having a shuttle train from Québec to Charny to connect to it).
In the old days, the Montréal-Halifax stopped at Lévis at the train/station/ferry terminal. (now a bike path).
@heliomass "East take a long route around the mountain instead of a tunnel being built so that they can avoid that and probably save a good 10 minutes on each trip."
The loss of the Mont Royal Tunnel has cost about 40 minute to train trips through the Tachereau freight yards in Lachine not 10. Its killed the Train de l'est.
@mpjgregoire@heliomass It is called Lucien L.allier. Has been since the barricades were setup to prevent trains from going where the hockey arean now stands. (at the time, it was a priomitive sidewalk and stairs down to mountain).
@heliomass In the USA , CPpc is bound by the law that forces it to accept passenger trains and could not lobby its way out of oassenger service as it dindn in the late 1980s when Mulroney grated its wish with the bigt cuts of 1989 that eliminated all services on CP tracks except for Sunbyry-White-Rover and Victoria-Nanaimo-Coutenay *a couple of segments have been added since, in particular Kamloops to Hope because CN and CP share their single tracks on either side of Thompson/Fraser)
@heliomass "In fact up until the past 4 or 5 years, Canadian Pacific had no interest in working with passenger railways either. What caused the company to so radically change course?"
The Canadian portion of CPKC has not changed and is still averse to passenger trains. The government has not indicated it has done anything to negotiate with CPKC for access to the line to Peterborough, not rights to pass over Smith falls yards or use Winchester between de Beaujeu and Dorion.
@heliomass Smith Falls to Toronto via Peterborough WAS CP Rail,s mainline between Montréal and Toronto. What is left today was just a spur to varous commercial customers along the lakeshore and never meant to varry through traffic. CP also had Montreal-Ottawa-Sudbury for transcontinental service so freight didn't have to go through Toronto. Today, not onnly has to go through toronto but use that single track rickety spur line that is left to connect MTL and TOR.
@heliomass Not the first time there has been an attempt at modernizing Canada's trains. The Turbo was actually the most agressive attempt in the last 1960s. The LRC was the second , more conservative attempt with promises of faster speeds et. The LRC is still tody more modern than the steel conventional trains VIA is burying from Siemens. HFR has no possible outcome because political requirements are not achievable. (such as Trous Riviève service without the Mont Royal tunnel).
Some really great ideas presented in this video, and I’m definitely in agreement with the final sweary conclusion. Via isn’t the only transit agency in Canada which is several decades behind other transit agencies – exo, ARTM, I’m looking at you again – but it’s irritating they don’t want to try some quick wins or tackle the low hanging fruit.
@heliomass "lines free of freight traffic" sign me up. Every time I've taken Via Rail (and I took it a lot over a 12 year period), we had to sit on a siding and wait for a freight train to go by.
Add comment