EllisDon to Lead Prairie Link High-Speed Rail Partners - Edm-RD-Cal

[The_Cat]

My thinking is that the right-of-way would good for Canada, as well as a north-south connector for other east-west rail lines in the U. S. There's no north-south connection between Chicago and the West Coast. Following this right of way could connect Winnipeg, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha, Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico.

 

[EdmTrekker]

I don't see how a HSR line from downtown Calgary to downtown Edmonton can happen - other than on the Qualico lands behind and West of RAM. That is the only right of way left into the core. In any event if and when one is built - the terminus of a line will be the most important transport HUB in Edmonton. It could be at Blatchford to connect to/with VIA or it could terminate in Strathcona and create a traffic nightmare. But ideally it will be on the Qualico lands with a pedway connection. My thoughts anyway.

 

[buildings]

I gladly confess my ignorance in all things high speed rail, but questions arise. Is there actually a need for it? I mean, it would serve an extremely small client base and even then would still need to compete with air. Why concentrate on a 19th century technology? Are people actually requiring the need to commute Edmonton to Calgary and back when a zoom meeting will suffice? Seems to be an awfully expensive technology to try to replace air travel. We don't even know how autonomous vehicles in the very near future will affect the equation. I know that there are a few HSR fans on this forum but hey, make your case.

 

[Stevey_G]

I gladly confess my ignorance in all things high speed rail, but questions arise. Is there actually a need for it? I mean, it would serve an extremely small client base and even then would still need to compete with air. Why concentrate on a 19th century technology? Are people actually requiring the need to commute Edmonton to Calgary and back when a zoom meeting will suffice? Seems to be an awfully expensive technology to try to replace air travel. We don't even know how autonomous vehicles in the very near future will affect the equation. I know that there are a few HSR fans on this forum but hey, make your case.

My counter argument is that I just wanna haul ass man.

 

[husky]

I don't see how a HSR line from downtown Calgary to downtown Edmonton can happen - other than on the Qualico lands behind and West of RAM. That is the only right of way left into the core. In any event if and when one is built - the terminus of a line will be the most important transport HUB in Edmonton. It could be at Blatchford to connect to/with VIA or it could terminate in Strathcona and create a traffic nightmare. But ideally it will be on the Qualico lands with a pedway connection. My thoughts anyway.

I'd imagine an HSR station would likely be at or near Government Centre since the right of way is already there.

 

[chrisvazquez7]

I gladly confess my ignorance in all things high speed rail, but questions arise. Is there actually a need for it? I mean, it would serve an extremely small client base and even then would still need to compete with air. Why concentrate on a 19th century technology? Are people actually requiring the need to commute Edmonton to Calgary and back when a zoom meeting will suffice? Seems to be an awfully expensive technology to try to replace air travel. We don't even know how autonomous vehicles in the very near future will affect the equation. I know that there are a few HSR fans on this forum but hey, make your case.

We don’t need HSR, we need regular-speed rail.

 

[_urbanite]

I'd imagine an HSR station would likely be at or near Government Centre since the right of way is already there.

Yeah the thing about that idea is we have to assume that ROW is actually suitable for HSR. We're about to spend $270 million rehabilitating the HLB, but even with this, can that bridge even accommodate a HSR line on top of it? Is that tunnel underneath 109 street suitable for HSR? I have my doubts. Even with upgrades, I think it would be a stretch to say we can run HSR on this ROW. A HSR line from Edmonton to Calgary would almost certainly have to start in Old Strathcona IMO

 

[BASE]

If we are going to spend Billions on HSR between Edmonton and Calgary I would hope they could find a way to get the train to a downtown station. If they couldn't then at least needs to be a good LRT connection to the line if it terminated in Old Strathcona.

 

[_urbanite]

If we are going to spend Billions on HSR between Edmonton and Calgary I would hope they could find a way to get the train to a downtown station. If they couldn't then at least needs to be a good LRT connection to the line if it terminated in Old Strathcona.

If you can figure out where to put a new bridge for the this, then I'd love to see that happen

 

[BASE]

If you can figure out where to put a new bridge and for the this, then I'd love to see that happen

Option 1 would be directly beside high level bridge. Maybe another possibility is something like the below and make a bit of a station out of 107 street and the government transit center by the Legislature/Federal building would connect nicely with the pedway and Government centre lrt station.

It would be a bit more of an effort building the structures to grade separate over a few roads and such but perhaps feasible?

 

[_urbanite]

Option 1 would be directly beside high level bridge. Maybe another possibility is something like the below and make a bit of a station out of 107 street and the government transit center by the Legislature/Federal building would connect nicely with the pedway and Government centre lrt station.

View attachment 487998
It would be a bit more of an effort building the structures to grade separate over a few roads and such but perhaps feasible?

What about the burial grounds? If we can't build towers for a gondola there, we sure as hell can't build pillars for another bridge

 

[Edmcowboy11]

What about the burial grounds? If we can't build towers for a gondola there, we sure as hell can't build pillars for another bridge

Unfortunately very true. Through that alignment is a non starter.

So quick question, we keep talking bout how vital it would be to have a train station in downtown Edmonton and downtown Calgary. So where in downtown Calgary is there any room?

 

[Avenuer]

Unfortunately very true. Through that alignment is a non starter.

So quick question, we keep talking bout how vital it would be to have a train station in downtown Edmonton and downtown Calgary. So where in downtown Calgary is there any room?

They have the CP rail line and yards still there between Downtown and the Beltline, so that would really be the only location for it.

 

[kcantor]

Unfortunately very true. Through that alignment is a non starter.

So quick question, we keep talking bout how vital it would be to have a train station in downtown Edmonton and downtown Calgary. So where in downtown Calgary is there any room?

it is interesting to see all the talk about how vital it would be to have train stations downtown and virtually none on whether a train itself is really vital or not…

 

[Glenco]

I gladly confess my ignorance in all things high speed rail, but questions arise. Is there actually a need for it? I mean, it would serve an extremely small client base and even then would still need to compete with air. Why concentrate on a 19th century technology? Are people actually requiring the need to commute Edmonton to Calgary and back when a zoom meeting will suffice? Seems to be an awfully expensive technology to try to replace air travel. We don't even know how autonomous vehicles in the very near future will affect the equation. I know that there are a few HSR fans on this forum but hey, make your case.

A bit disingenuous to call it 19th century technology. Trains do 200mph, 320kph run on electricity If there were a need for express transportation between our cities it would the most viable option.