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

^ yep. As long as it's not longer than 2 hours it'll be the fastest method of travel between the two cities and therefore inherently competitive. No need to build a complicated HSR beast of a project, imo. Double the existing tracks and you're good to go.
 
I disagree, it needs to be substantially faster for Albertan's to be willing to deal with the hassle of navigating Edmonton or Calgary without a car once they arrive. Further, a constant 200km train would not work on the existing track with so many local crossings. You basically need to grade separate it anyway to prevent the multitude of saftey slowdowns that would bring it down to a similar journey time as a car on the QEII. And 300kmh trains are not fancy tech anymore, the grade separation is by far the biggest cost. We can buy a 300kmh system off the shelf from a half dozen different countries.
 
Thing is too, it isn't an all or nothing game between a 200 and 300 km/h system. The HSR could be designed to fit within the median or along the side of the QEII, with trains going full speed down straight sections of the highway and then slowing down to 200 when reaching bends. Many grade separations could be avoided doing this, saving lots of money for a slight reduction in average speed.
 
I would actually not hate going to Calgary if there were just reliable, frequent train service with travel times even just similar to driving using equipment less cursory than the old Budd RDCs. I would probably even go there for fun. At the whole 160-200km/h threshold, you can run a proper regional train rather than a strictly "intercity" service, and provide service to the corridor rather than just Edmonton, Calgary and occasionally Red Deer. It's also much more forgiving in terms of operating costs than going full Shinkansen.
 
Coprolite said:
I would actually not hate going to Calgary if there were just reliable, frequent train service with travel times even just similar to driving using equipment less cursory than the old Budd RDCs. I would probably even go there for fun. At the whole 160-200km/h threshold, you can run a proper regional train rather than a strictly "intercity" service, and provide service to the corridor rather than just Edmonton, Calgary and occasionally Red Deer. It's also much more forgiving in terms of operating costs than going full Shinkansen.
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I would frankly use the train if it was 100 km/h and took longer than driving. Trains are just a superior way to travel. However, I know that I'm not representative of most folks. I am happy to take the time and use transit and am not attached to my vehicle as a matter of identity. If we want the train to be successful, the benefit needs to outweigh the hassle for more than just the committed urbanists.
 
Didama said:
^ yep. As long as it's not longer than 2 hours it'll be the fastest method of travel between the two cities and therefore inherently competitive. No need to build a complicated HSR beast of a project, imo. Double the existing tracks and you're good to go.
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I feel saving an hour or so of travel plus not having to drive is probably a reasonable enough incentive to get a number of people to take it.

IDK what speed or track that will require, but if the cost to get an additional half hour further or so of time savings is too high, then maybe the best trade off is something not as quite as fast.
 
If the price was right, I'm OK even traveling at a 100 km/h,which would then be about the same amount of time to drive to Calgary. Obviously the faster the better but it would be nice to not have to drive that distance anymore.
Eventually it would be nice too if from Calgary or maybe Lethbridge I'd love to be able to take a connector train into the US where I could transfer to Amtrack.
 
Connect to Amtrack? This is big thinking, which is maybe why I like it - good idea!

I believe Toronto and Vancouver have Amtrack service, but of course they are closer to the border and more populated areas of the US.

It would be good for tourism both ways between Canada and the US, if we could also directly connect somehow from Alberta.
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
If the price was right, I'm OK even traveling at a 100 km/h,which would then be about the same amount of time to drive to Calgary. Obviously the faster the better but it would be nice to not have to drive that distance anymore.
Eventually it would be nice too if from Calgary or maybe Lethbridge I'd love to be able to take a connector train into the US where I could transfer to Amtrack.
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I would prefer to have 150-200kmh network that connected most of the major points in Alberta (Grand Prairie, Fort Mac, Edmonton, Jasper, Lloydminster, Red deer , Calgary, Banff and Lethbridge) rather than 300+km/h showoff train that only connected Edmonton-Calgary-Banff.

Add in a connection from Banff to Kelowna and I would be over the Moon.
 
I want HSR at 200 kmh or faster connecting Edmonton (terminal at 76 Ave), YEG, Red Deer, YYC and Calgary (terminal near downtown) along the QE2.
Connections to Jasper, Banff, Lethbridge, Fort Mac, Grande Prairie and the US border (Amtrak) can come later.
 

The thing is if you are willing to compromise on the speed you can actually use new hydrogen technology: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/hydrogen-train-quebec-city-1.6888891

Going higher on the speedometer means you have to electrify the system and then you're looking at enormous costs. The reality is that we can either have fantastical fever dreams about HSR and never get anything built, or be realistic and build something that is still useful but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Double the track on the existing freight line between yeg and yyc (CPKC already agreed to this for the proposed CABR line from YYC to Banff), build grade separation where necessary and you've got an opportunity to run some express trains that will take 2h or less and also some regional trains that can connect munis along the corridor. I'm a firm believer of the 'keep it simple' approach.
 
I don’t have data on this but my opinion is you need a speed selling feature on this to make it viable. With so many who drive or take the bus and the occasional few who fly, you need to compel people to change their preferred mode to a train. Doesn’t need to be a 1 hour journey but it needs to be a sub 2 hour trip in my opinion.
 
BASE said:
I don’t have data on this but my opinion is you need a speed selling feature on this to make it viable. With so many who drive or take the bus and the occasional few who fly, you need to compel people to change their preferred mode to a train. Doesn’t need to be a 1 hour journey but it needs to be a sub 2 hour trip in my opinion.
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Nothing that a highway toll couldn't fix ;)
 
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