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Commuter & Regional Rail

SarcasticMarmot said:
Making it 3 lanes is only going to delay the inevitable.
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And at a cost that is just as high.
I also drive it regularly and my experience is pretty much the same as yours. In the winter it's been even worse, not to mention the safety issues.
Even if we had regular rail, going at 120km/h or so, it would already be a substantial improvement over what we have today and better than adding a 3rd lane
 
ChazYEG said:
Even if we had regular rail, going at 120km/h or so, it would already be a substantial improvement over what we have today and better than adding a 3rd lane
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I agree that regular rail would be an improvement. But because we are starting basically from scratch anyway and its not a geographically complex route I believe the additional cost for HSR would play a major role in increasing people's willingness to use it. Saving an extra few hours on the highway makes it more worth the hassle to arrange transport around our car centric cities. We do not need to do anything cutting edge or create a system from scratch. IMO the best option would be to buy a TGV system from France.
 
SarcasticMarmot said:
I agree that regular rail would be an improvement. But because we are starting basically from scratch anyway and its not a geographically complex route I believe the additional cost for HSR would play a major role in increasing people's willingness to use it. Saving an extra few hours on the highway makes it more worth the hassle to arrange transport around our car centric cities. We do not need to do anything cutting edge or create a system from scratch. IMO the best option would be to buy a TGV system from France.
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I agree 100%. My point with regular real was just to highlight the absurdity of shoving more money on a 3rd lane on QEII
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
I just wish that Alberta could start taking on a European or Asian point of view regarding train transportation.
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How about working on the density, perception of public transit and order of magnitude associated infrastructure in, around and between local terminus'.

These need to be in place BEFORE or at the very least in parallel with HSR>
 
That makes zero sense. You build a paradigm-shifting project like this to actually facilitate and encourage things like density, positive perception of public transit, etc. Good thing 150 years ago our forefathers didn't take the Ian route.... l'et's wait until Canada is developed and has a solid, dense economy before building a transnational railway.'
 
I encourage a few of you to read this if THAT is your opinion and comparison, because the national railway is far more akin to Atlantic shipping lines or early international flight routes than HSR.

by | Penguin Random House Canada

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca www.penguinrandomhouse.ca

Again, I regularly use HSR when I travel (taken TGV, Eurostar, ICE, Shinkansen, Shanghai Maglev demo line, Acela, etc.) and believe it is THE best way to move people, but that doesn't mean it should be built right now, in Alberta, UNLESS the big WE think there is enough public good, GHG reductions, shift of habits and redirection of capital to that type of project.

BUT, the business case, especially a premium class would be in question and there would still be a lack of connect ability upon arrival. Also, won't anyone think about the inter-city flights, pilots and crews?
 
Lack of connectivity upon arrival?? again your car centric mentality shines through. I travel to Calgary regularly by Red Arrow and upon arrival I can take any of these options to get to my next destination: LRT, Bus, Taxi, Communato (car share), UBer/Lyft, friends/family pick me up, walk (if i'm going somewhere downtown), car rental, hotel shuttle....I mean, how many options do you need?

Inter-city flights? please.... that takes four hours all in and is a giant pain in the ass.
 
IanO said:
I encourage a few of you to read this if THAT is your opinion and comparison, because the national railway is far more akin to Atlantic shipping lines or early international flight routes than HSR.

by | Penguin Random House Canada

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca www.penguinrandomhouse.ca

Again, I regularly use HSR when I travel (taken TGV, Eurostar, ICE, Shinkansen, Shanghai Maglev demo line, Acela, etc.) and believe it is THE best way to move people, but that doesn't mean it should be built right now, in Alberta, UNLESS the big WE think there is enough public good, GHG reductions, shift of habits and redirection of capital to that type of project.

BUT, the business case, especially a premium class would be in question and there would still be a lack of connect ability upon arrival. Also, won't anyone think about the inter-city flights, pilots and crews?
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I think a big part of the success of the other HSR lines around the world is the feeder rail network in place. That's where Alberta will struggle and that's why I can see a commuter type rail being built first and possibly a not high speed (but not slow) passenger rail service being built first.
 
Exactly. Hubs and transfers are key...

Not to mention that even with some grade separation, this train will be no faster than a car. Even when you hop on the Tokyo-Osaka express, you still do A LOT of 80-120km/h in sections.
 
Didama said:
Lack of connectivity upon arrival?? again your car centric mentality shines through. I travel to Calgary regularly by Red Arrow and upon arrival I can take any of these options to get to my next destination: LRT, Bus, Taxi, Communato (car share), UBer/Lyft, friends/family pick me up, walk (if i'm going somewhere downtown), car rental, hotel shuttle....I mean, how many options do you need?

Inter-city flights? please.... that takes four hours all in and is a giant pain in the ass.
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The required and expected volumes would overwhelm those and even if scaled up would be inefficient versus a much more expanded LRT network or better/more frequent bus system. It can be done, but would need to be in place prior to.
 
Didama said:
Nothing wrong with that. You build it at the speed of a car and it will be plenty popular. Doesn’t have to be hypersonic.
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I feel we are trying to run before we even walk. Just get a decent commuter or inter city rail service in first and see how it goes, before investing huge amounts for something faster.
 
Interesting video looking at the top 56 city pairs in North America for high speed rail using a gravity model calculation. Spoiler YEG-YYC pair doesn't make the cut and interestingly none of the PDX-SEA-YVR pairs do either. Toronto and Montreal get a few. Certainly this model leaves out many factors but interesting watch.

 
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