I love your optimism. Unfortunately it's only going to open in 2029. Maybe STM should have included Saint-Michel in their plans had they known about all the delays (the current phase of the Accessibility program covers 2017-2025 and does not include that station). It is in the "higher...

Mont-Royal metro becomes 20th accessible station on the network! https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/so-much-more-freedom-mont-royal-becomes-20th-accessible-metro-station 11 more stations are currently having elevators installed (opening from 2022 to 2025), with 4 more projects being...

Be careful though. The "losers" here are people who live within walking distance from a metro station in Laval and Longueuil, because they face a steep increase in price, but that's not many people compared to the rest of the metropolitan area. Most people in the suburbs actually have a much...

It's not that far-fetched to imagine a connection between the CP Parc sub (through Parc des Gorilles) and the CP Westmount sub for connections to the existing network. The real complexity would probably be downtown, connecting with Central Station.

I was obviously referring to full privatisation, which is what basically happened in the UK in the 90s, and what was talked about in this thread for the last few pages, i.e. dismantling Via. My comments should not be looked at any other way. There's a difference between privatising operations...

Right. The only solution now, if it ever comes to that, is to build a new tunnel from the Parc station and build new central station platforms deep under the existing station. That tunnel would then have to continue west to surface along the CP Westmount sub, or curve to the south and reach the...

You can't build north from those platforms. They're not deep enough to clear the underground parking lots, the underground city and the metro green line that are meters from there. The difference with the Mont-Royal tunnel is really that nothing was in its way, and no one expected so many...

Worth saying that the UK has 3 times the population density of southern Ontario and 5 times that of southern Quebec. Privatization is not a good idea because it's just not profitable in Canada. The only way a private company could make a profit carrying passengers here is if CN decided it was in...

That would be amazing, but very complex. It would require a 5-7km tunnel, and basically a new central station probably deep under the current one. In other words: B-I-L-L-I-O-N-S

What's really scary is that all these issues showcase how unsafe the tunnel really was during commuter rail times.

Having lived in both cities, I would say the difference is really in the suburbs. Montreal's suburban networks are not very efficient, and we're going through a horrible phase of sprawl. In the city though, Toronto and Montreal are pretty much the same honestly. Thankfully our premier is...

Adding to this, the issue lies much more at the capital investment level than at the operations. It costs a lot to start a new service, and it costs a lot to improve an existing one. That's why the only big project is HFR, because if Via can improve at the heart of its most profitable service...

I don't understand your point. The regional services are federally mandated and almost entirely paid for by the Feds. I don't think there is an expectation that Via can turn a profit on those routes, as they provide essential services. They received $42M in 2019 from the feds to cover the...

So about 500km to reach those 4 areas, where about 900k people live. For comparison, Calgary-Edmonton is a 300km corridor where 3 million people live and Montréal-Ottawa-Toronto is a 600km corridor where 12.7 million people live. See where I'm going? Busses are a great solution to mobility...

You talk as if Via is useless, except it's not. In the Corridor, Via provides good service for a very decent price (at my firm, people going to clients in Ottawa usually take a train from Montréal, same with Quebec City). You're right though that more provincial intervention could be good...

There are dozens of ways to travel from Toronto to Montreal because there are more people between those two cities than anywhere else in the country. There are busses too between Halifax in Moncton...

That's where the population density and the money is...

Pearson has improved by A LOT in the last few years, at least at T1. It used to be so painful connecting there when you were arriving from another country and flying onto another canadian city. I used to avoid it at all costs because it was much easier to connect in a US airport and clear...

The Lachine tramway is currently being studied by the province, more to come later this year actually! The pink line is just a dream for now :P Frankly, downtown doesn't need more transit. Eastern Montreal does.

It is. Legault and the CDPQi tried it with REM de l'Est, and this is what happened.