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

The_Cat said:
^ Edmonton will still have national and transborder flights, and possibly other international flights. Edmonton and area will also have about 2 M people by the time the HSR opens.
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I think its a fairly moot point in that something hasn't happened for 40 years yet and there is no concrete plan for it yet in the foreseeable future.

However, even if it did, most likely the still 2 hour or so additional travel time would dissuade many more from flying from the south instead. And as pointed out, by the time this likely happens our population will be larger and better able to support more flights.
 
Key to trains in Alberta is to first of all get the route of Edmonton-Red Deer-Calgary built and operational ASAP.
2) if someone wants to build a Calgay to Banff line in the meantime, than so be it.

Extensions and further connections can come in phases.

Here is an video from RMtransit that I found interesting.
Canada's Getting High-Speed Rail, But...
 
EdmTrekker said:
90 minutes and we can close YEG.
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Call it 300km and assuming Downtown stations, the first 15-20 minutes each side would be at 50-80km/h just to get out of the city.

Then add in a stop in Red Deer, slowing, stopped, accelerating and you add in 20-30minutes.

Even fully grade separated, it would be 2-2.5hrs.
 
IanO said:
Call it 300km and assuming Downtown stations, the first 15-20 minutes each side would be at 50-80km/h just to get out of the city.

Then add in a stop in Red Deer, slowing, stopped, accelerating and you add in 20-30minutes.

Even fully grade separated, it would be 2-2.5hrs.
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There could be a combination some that are non stop between the two bigger cities and some that stop in Red Deer, so you may get to 2 hours, which is a good time savings vs. auto or bus, but I sense beyond that would be too costly.
 
David A said:
There could be a combination some that are non stop between the two bigger cities and some that stop in Red Deer, so you may get to 2 hours, which is a good time savings vs. auto or bus, but I sense beyond that would be too costly.
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I'm not even sure that 2 hours would be "a good time savings vs auto" but it might be by bus.

If I want to go to Calgary, I can leave now and be there by auto in 3 hours and I have the use of my car while there instead of having to use a taxi or an Uber to get to where I want to go.

Even if the train is 2 hours, I need to get to the station, purchase a ticket and board. At the other end, I need to disembark, arrange transportation and get to where I want to go. Say 20 minutes to get to the station, 20 minutes to board, 10 minutes to disembark and 20 minutes to get to where I want to go and that's 3 hours and 10 minutes. It's also the same thing getting home and perhaps longer if I want to leave before the train does.

Both probably have their advantages - which may even change depending on the season - but there's no substantial advantage to rail over driving. On the cost side, it's also worth noting that if there are two people travelling, the cost is doubled by train whereas it would be halved if travelling by car.
 
kcantor said:
I'm not even sure that 2 hours would be "a good time savings vs auto" but it might be by bus.

If I want to go to Calgary, I can leave now and be there by auto in 3 hours and I have the use of my car while there instead of having to use a taxi or an Uber to get to where I want to go.

Even if the train is 2 hours, I need to get to the station, purchase a ticket and board. At the other end, I need to disembark, arrange transportation and get to where I want to go. Say 20 minutes to get to the station, 20 minutes to board, 10 minutes to disembark and 20 minutes to get to where I want to go and that's 3 hours and 10 minutes. It's also the same thing getting home and perhaps longer if I want to leave before the train does.

Both probably have their advantages - which may even change depending on the season - but there's no substantial advantage to rail over driving. On the cost side, it's also worth noting that if there are two people travelling, the cost is doubled by train whereas it would be halved if travelling by car.
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You'll need to factor in issues such as city traffic, road traffic, weather conditions, stress of driving vs riding a train, cost of a train ticket vs filling your gas tank, wear & tear of your vehicle, health concerns and environmental concerns.
 
Downtown to Downtown, rail would be substantially faster than driving if it was 2 hrs or just over (given certain routes skip the Red Deer stop as @DavidA suggests). If you're going outside of the main core, or main line of either city it's probably quicker to drive than have to transfer to LRT and/or bus to get to other parts of the city. If time tables are aligned with LRT/Bus routes I think this could be made much better.

To be completely honest, while speed is obviously a key factor, I think that budget will probably be bigger. Even if the train is closer to 3-4 hours, I think you would still see a good uptake if it were substantially cheaper than driving. If it was 2-3 hours and offered good savings, I think you would see very good uptake.
 
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