This is straying into questions that we don’t need to worry about for a long time, but what do you guys think? How could HSR in SWO coexist or work around GO and freight?
I won't repeat all that has been discussed here before - but you might read up on the Collenette report, not because it's spectacular but because it's the most recent discussion of HSR west of Toronto.
Collenette did propose various HSR routings west from Toronto. Mostly what he achieved was
- sticker shock for government
- NIMBY reaction from communities that might have been affected
- YIMBY reaction from communities that were left off the map.
The sticker shock is largely because punching a HSR route through the fairly dense urban fabrics of Southern Ontario will mean buying a lot of land that is already heavily developed. Punching routes into cities along the way is political dynamite, even if people want HSR. There isn't the kind of political will or demand that, say Britain has - and it's not like HS2 has gone off without opposition!
For the same reasons as Peterborough vs Kingston, I would argue that there is only one viable choice for better rail in SW Ontario, and that's Kitchener-Stratford, because that's the existing rail line that the freight railways need and care about the least. But that makes "losers" out of Hamilton-Brantford-Woodstock.
I will repeat my previous comment - Alto/HSR is the second most important transportation project in Ontario. The most important project needed is improved Regional Rail especially west of Toronto. Ottawa is promising to spend $50B beginning in 4-8 years when what Ontario needs is $2-3B spent immediately. The priority placed on Alto without putting the other project first is wrongheaded.
And I will repeat my other previous comment - the way to get there is by freight coproduction and rerouting of freight traffic to clear space on existing lines. That's a political 'bridge too far' that isn't going to happen, but it's by far the cheapest and most logical.
- Paul
