[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Pretty cool! Unfortunately it all comes back around to freight rail being too successful in Canada. The CPKC is pushing 37 trains a day on average through the system, up from 33 or so two decades ago. To add 16+ trains a day (8 round trips) to the line for the stretch just isn't feasible without twinning (or nearly full twinning), let alone 16+ to Banff plus 16+ to Cochrane.

Yeah I figured this wouldn't work for the mainlines, and I still prefer the idea of Shinkansen grade HSR for the YEG to Banff route.

But it could be a cost effective way of running lower traffic regional routes like GP and Ft Mac, or as a line in the Okanagan from Kamloops to the border. Or on Vancouver island from Comox to Esquimalt.

I also recently read about increasing demand for air flights between Regina and Saskatoon, but if a system like this could provide near one hour rail service instead I think it'd be the better solution. Maybe even extend the line to Edm and Wpg if it proves successful.

 

[therl15]

Tbh, I’m totally fine with the new parking fee if we have the TRAIN built.

 

[badc0ffee]

Tbh, I’m totally fine with the new parking fee if we have the TRAIN built.

Is there a new parking fee?

 

[therl15]

Is there a new parking fee?

Banff does

 

[Chowda7]

Labour groups line up behind Calgary–Banff passenger rail plan

Canada’s largest building trades organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding with advocates of the proposed Calgary Airport–Banff passenger rail project, formalizing collaboration related to the plan, which has been submitted for federal review. Canada's Building Trades Unions, the...

discoverairdrie.com

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Labour groups line up behind Calgary–Banff passenger rail plan

Canada’s largest building trades organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding with advocates of the proposed Calgary Airport–Banff passenger rail project, formalizing collaboration related to the plan, which has been submitted for federal review. Canada's Building Trades Unions, the...

discoverairdrie.com

I'll give them credit; they know how to keep the tap dripping news.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

In the absence of AB rail news, some interesting tidbits in this article about the Laurentian project.

Montreal is going to require a 10km tunnel for its downtown access, while they still aren't firm on whether it will even connect directly with Union station in TO.

Seems like getting HSR carved into the urban fabric will be a challenge for every city.

High-speed rail line could see long tunnels beneath Montreal, Toronto, raising costs

The Crown corporation overseeing a planned high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City says tunnels will be needed in Montreal and possibly Toronto.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

Surprised the province isn't being a little more aggressive with their plans, I'd think there would be some incentive to get the AB line running first. Demonstrated competence is political capital too..

 

[CalgaryTiger]

In the absence of AB rail news, some interesting tidbits in this article about the Laurentian project.

Montreal is going to require a 10km tunnel for its downtown access, while they still aren't firm on whether it will even connect directly with Union station in TO.

Seems like getting HSR carved into the urban fabric will be a challenge for every city.

High-speed rail line could see long tunnels beneath Montreal, Toronto, raising costs

The Crown corporation overseeing a planned high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City says tunnels will be needed in Montreal and possibly Toronto.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

Surprised the province isn't being a little more aggressive with their plans, I'd think there would be some incentive to get the AB line running first. Demonstrated competence is political capital too..

The answer in Calgary is easier, it is elevated, but HSR into downtown Edmonton is also a challenge (I think they should be happy to get it to Strathcona or the University of Alberta via a single track on the streetcar right-of-way and cut and cover of 87th Ave to connect to the LRT).

The issue with timing here is the money required is not something I see the government willing to put up. But the cheapest time to do it was yesterday, the next cheapest time is today.

 

[Red Star]

In the absence of AB rail news, some interesting tidbits in this article about the Laurentian project.

Montreal is going to require a 10km tunnel for its downtown access, while they still aren't firm on whether it will even connect directly with Union station in TO.

Seems like getting HSR carved into the urban fabric will be a challenge for every city.

High-speed rail line could see long tunnels beneath Montreal, Toronto, raising costs

The Crown corporation overseeing a planned high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City says tunnels will be needed in Montreal and possibly Toronto.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

Surprised the province isn't being a little more aggressive with their plans, I'd think there would be some incentive to get the AB line running first. Demonstrated competence is political capital too..

IMO Calgary is in a good position for HSR.

The approach coming into Calgary from the north along the nose creek alignment is almost completely grade separated. It doesn't get much easier than that. I'd wager a lot of cities around the world would wish it was that easy.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Calgary's approach is definitely easier, the challenges will be coordinating all the pieces to do it right. When everything is new, it can be tougher to design a solution because there isn't an existing anchor.

Edmonton's approach is going to be a mess, but wherever it terminates, the station will be much simpler. There won't be a halfway station in meme-cona, it'll either go all the way DT and terminate at the legislature, or it'll end at YEG and the province will fully fund an LRT extension to the airport instead.

I figure odds are good that the gov will built it all the way to their HQ, but that approach might end up costing more than all the track between the two airports!

 

[trtcttc]

Should've signed an MOU on getting some Chinese know how to build the HSR. With over 50k km in operation (for context TransCanada is 38k), I'm sure they've faced every type of topography, soil condition, routing, etc. We should still build it with our domestic labour and property rights standards, but the engineering side, can definitely use global know how.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

and property rights standards

I wonder about this sometimes... In Calgary, for HSR, this might not play a major role (with the exception of the Inglewood bottleneck) but I do think the larger benefit shouldn't be overruled by a property right.

 

[whatchyyc]

I remember the Texas Central Railway had multiple drawn out court battles over about 6 years on whether or not it was legally a railroad and could survey and expropriate private property, a ton of landowners along the alignment hated their guts. Eventually they did get a ruling in their favour but the federal government pulled a grant and the project died. The provincial government leading the project is obviously different, but it's something that worried me when Ellisdon made their original HSR proposal.

 

[darwink]

I remember the Texas Central Railway had multiple drawn out court battles over about 6 years on whether or not it was legally a railroad and could survey and expropriate private property, a ton of landowners along the alignment hated their guts. Eventually they did get a ruling in their favour but the federal government pulled a grant and the project died. The provincial government leading the project is obviously different, but it's something that worried me when Ellisdon made their original HSR proposal.

Iirc under the Alberta railway act the province can endow a private railway with the power of expropriation.

 

[Urban_Views]

Not sure if this has been posted before but Alec Hamilton has created an amazing historical analysis of trains and rail systems in the Calgary Context. https://diverging.weebly.com/

Someone had asked about using this station and it could make sense as proof of concept before building grand central.