I have accepted that. Most,including yourself talk in absolute terms. And the Northlander is a great showcase of the realities of how things work. Go back in 2012. No one thought any government,let alone a PC government that cut some of the earlier things would ever bring it back. Once it was...

My thinking would be to relieve the ports of Halifax and Montreal, but you would need a Seawaymax ship to do it.

To quote Moe from the Simpsons:"Hey, if wishes were horses, I'd be eating wish meat every night." I have levels of thinking to where future rail projects could be. That is why my more ludicrous ones I do not share. This is on that spectrum, and I know how close to ludicrous it is. There are so...

Hamilton's Burlington Bay is a natural harbour. Toronto had one but stopped using it. I don't think Oshawa would have one deep enough to utilize.

What is interesting is most cities, if they still have rail, or rail corridors would benefit from it. Heck, even where I live in Sudbury, we have the rails if we ever had the funding and the population, we could have something decent. The problem is not the ideas of where the next projects...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Northland_Railway#/media/File:ON_switching_in_Hearst,_ON.jpg

The Green Belt is a great conception till the development jumps over it, like in Ottawa. What is really needed is a better plan for growth. Not a local one, but a regional/provincial one that can allow the GTA/Golden Horseshoe to be able to expand and not be a detriment.

GO and ONR are the same thing, but they are very different They are both railway companies owned by the government of Ontario. They both have their own charters. They both have their own mandates. And they both could be better utilized. Anything within ~1 hour train from a city center that needs...

In an idealized world, inner-provincial rail would be provided by the province.

Then instead of 8km or 30 km, the ~90km double track may be the more prudent way to appease CN, and help Via and ONR stay on schedule. Unrealistic? Not after they bought the Newmarket Sub. Remember, it only has a freight a day each way and they bought it.

In this polarized world, everything has become polarized. It should come as no surprise that ALTO would be drawn in, whether they wanted to be or not. Had they not been dragged in, I would have been shocked.

Currently Casino Rama sits on the old ROW. So, you solved the problem to Brechin, but what about between there south to where it is double track?

Looking at the various roads that cross near existing sidings, are there any that would be worth grade separating?

If the province ever wanted to add much more than the one Northlander running on the existing future schedule, it may be more prudent to work with CN to get the line double tracked. The good thing is, there is no tying up crossings. The bad thing is... who will pay for it.

Is there a known fix for next winter?