[reinventingthewheel]

The consultation period ends this Friday, April 24. In going through the municipal resolutions made so far, one interesting discovery was a slide deck by Alto for the Township of Stone Mills. You can read the whole deck here, but I'm going to display the slide about stages. Politically speaking, the project is not entirely a done deal at the federal level yet:

View attachment 730925

The feds funded the development phase ~$4B but there is no indication where the money to build will come from. The feds will need to approve the final design and commit to fully fund construction or secure a deal with private investments. It’s never been a done deal, always at risk.

 

[Allandale25]

Citizens coalition pitches alternative to Alto high-speed rail

Creating dedicated passenger rail tracks along the existing Via Rail corridor could allow trains to travel up to 220km/h.

www.thewhig.com

I think this article is refering to this group/idea: https://beyondalto.ca/

Can't recall if it has been posted here yet.

A few quick thoughts:
- They don't have a detailed map. This is as close as they come:

- They know it's very difficult and they don't want to create NIMBY reaction.
- CEO of Alto in that Star article already explained:

Imbleau said the ideal approach is often to follow existing infrastructure, such as highways, to minimize expropriations, and even Ontario Premier Doug Ford has suggested the line could run along the Highway 401 corridor.
But Imbleau also told the Star the route along the 401 is not straight enough to support high-speed travel. Instead, planners are aiming to follow property lines where possible to limit disruptions.

 

[micheal_can]

Citizens coalition pitches alternative to Alto high-speed rail

Creating dedicated passenger rail tracks along the existing Via Rail corridor could allow trains to travel up to 220km/h.

www.thewhig.com

I think this article is refering to this group/idea: https://beyondalto.ca/

Can't recall if it has been posted here yet.

A few quick thoughts:
- They don't have a detailed map. This is as close as they come:

View attachment 731106
- They know it's very difficult and they don't want to create NIMBY reaction.
- CEO of Alto in that Star article already explained:

This reminds me of how Via cannot advertise in a way that makes them better than flying. What everyone seems to want is for it to be cheap and not competitive to the existing modes out of fear of them collapsing. Imagine what would happen if those flights did not happen the amount of layoffs that might happen, let alone the lost revenue. The ironically good thing is one of the members of the consortium is Air Canada. It is almost like they know the writing is on the wall and they want to (finally) be ahead of it.

 

[StreetcarRider]

Citizens coalition pitches alternative to Alto high-speed rail

Creating dedicated passenger rail tracks along the existing Via Rail corridor could allow trains to travel up to 220km/h.

www.thewhig.com

I think this article is refering to this group/idea: https://beyondalto.ca/

Can't recall if it has been posted here yet.

A few quick thoughts:
- They don't have a detailed map. This is as close as they come:

View attachment 731106
- They know it's very difficult and they don't want to create NIMBY reaction.
- CEO of Alto in that Star article already explained:

My concern at the moment is that the Alto project will become another political cause celebre after the BC ostrich farm and COVID restrictions. I fear that, like those issues, expertise will get clouded by other things.

This citizen proposal strikes me as that type of thing. The proposal makes it sound like there is a minimum and affordable viable product for VIA relating to existing infrastructure. But VIA itself has said for at least a decade that there is no such opportunity.

It's not a long drive to Ottawa from eastern Ontario or western Quebec. When politicians have to decide whether to move from the development agreement to the network agreement at some point in the future, how will it affect their vote if they see a tractor convoy on Parliament Hill, depressing information about the economy in their briefings, and a bunch of stuff like this citizen proposal circulating around as if it's serious?

 

[micheal_can]

My concern at the moment is that the Alto project will become another political cause celebre after the BC ostrich farm and COVID restrictions. I fear that, like those issues, expertise will get clouded by other things.

This citizen proposal strikes me as that type of thing. The proposal makes it sound like there is a minimum and affordable viable product for VIA relating to existing infrastructure. But VIA itself has said for at least a decade that there is no such opportunity.

It's not a long drive to Ottawa from eastern Ontario or western Quebec. When politicians have to decide whether to move from the development agreement to the network agreement at some point in the future, how will it affect their vote if they see a tractor convoy on Parliament Hill, depressing information about the economy in their briefings, and a bunch of stuff like this citizen proposal circulating around as if it's serious?

The good thing is, the next federal election is not for about 3 years. And some of those ridings won't flip one way or the other over this. By that time the route will be firmed up and everyone will know which properties will be affected.

 

[guavadelic]

The feds funded the development phase ~$4B but there is no indication where the money to build will come from. The feds will need to approve the final design and commit to fully fund construction or secure a deal with private investments. It’s never been a done deal, always at risk.

That's the biggest risk to the project, IMO. More so than rural opposition and as much as a change in government. There are sizable budgetary pressures on the way, like the increase in defense spending, and the government hasn't really outlined how all that will be realistically paid for. We'll see if they are willing to make some tough decisions now that they have a majority.

Imagine what would happen if those flights did not happen the amount of layoffs that might happen, let alone the lost revenue. The ironically good thing is one of the members of the consortium is Air Canada. It is almost like they know the writing is on the wall and they want to (finally) be ahead of it.

At some point the airline lobby (sans Air Canada) will dedicate resources to pushback against Alto and that's when we can expect the opposition to really pick up. Porter Airlines in particular will be hugely impacted by high speed rail in the corridor. They don't serve the long haul international destinations service by AC. They've expanded and diversified routes in recent years, but the corridor is still sizably important to their operations.

 

[micheal_can]

At some point the airline lobby (sans Air Canada) will dedicate resources to pushback against Alto and that's when we can expect the opposition to really pick up. Porter Airlines in particular will be hugely impacted by high speed rail in the corridor. They don't serve the long haul international destinations service by AC. They've expanded and diversified routes in recent years, but the corridor is still sizably important to their operations.

I am surprised that they already haven't, unless they are the ones stirring the pot.