The point I made was that all three routes (Gaspé, YEG-YYC and VICT-COUR) were discontinued because the respective provincial governments sat on their hands while the infrastructure deteriorated beyond the point where safe passenger operations were possible. VIA has indicated that it will...

Absolutely correct: VIA service to the Gaspé peninsula has a future because QC doles out the big bucks. Vancouver Island doesn’t because BC refuses to do the same… The problem with that service were the string of dangerous and at times deadly level crossing incidents. AB apparently couldn’t be...

I only see limited benefits in discussing some of the counter-factuals certain railfans keep throwing at you, but had the provincial governments in BC, AB and QC bothered to fix the rail infrastructure used by the VICT-COUR, CALG-EDMO and MTPD-GASP trains, all three of these rail services would...

Every budget decision is political, such as the decision to shrink VIA in January 1990 to a skelleton transcontinental service and a somewhat clipped Corridor service, while cancelling its Regional routes, preserving its Remote services and privatizing its emerging Tourism service. However...

I‘m trying to phrase this in simpler terms: Most of the current issues with boarding procedures will be hopefully resolved in a decade‘s time when the entire Corridor uses a modern fleet, HFR is operable and the track and platform layout at Union Station has been completely overhauled to allow...

I‘m not that familiar with competitive (or any) law in this country, but considering how anxious some people here are about PP cancelling HFR, the enthusiasm for an alliance with ex-monopolist AC which could shut down out and harm private competitors like Porter and WestJet strikes me as rather...

I don‘t think anyone would disagree that as difficult as it is to change current boarding procedures, there certainly is room for improvement in providing information explaining them. The North American approach to rail/transit passenger information is generally subterranean…

Even in the example with airports, infrastructure constraints determine the feasibility of certain boarding procedures: airport gates are generally designed as designated areas with sufficient and clearly separated waiting areas without passenger throughfare. There simply is no space at Toronto...

Three major changes in the operating environment are going to completely upend current boarding/detraining processes at Union Station within the next 10 years: 1) The standardization of all intercity trains with modern rolling stock 2) The complete reconfiguration of track/platform...

I agree that if you insist on herding passengers like sheep they start acting like herded sheep, but I don‘t see how you could allow passengers to board and detrain independently at rail stations which aren‘t high-level and often feature platforms which don’t reach the entire length of the...

I would like to add that there is a schism in North American transportation philosophy between Commuter Rail (and transit in general), which assumes that all passengers are able-bodied working-age passengers travelling with at-most a briefcase or small backpack on the same route for at least 4...

First, we are talking about intercity rail, so scratch all but Amtrak from the list. Second, to the best of my knowledge, all major NEC stations have high-level platforms, which is again a big qualifier for whatever differences there might exist in comparison with VIA. I‘m a bit puzzled as to...

Just out of curiosity: how many railroads do you know which have to deal with platform heights which range by a full meter (e.g., from 48 inches high to basically track level)? It‘s the infrastructure which drives boarding processes and you of all people here should know this very well by now…

I‘m not stressing out over this, I‘m just seeing the danger that if this bid was selected that endless litigation would delay or even derail the project. However, if these conflicts of interest get recognized and lead to a different bid getting selected, I would be very happy…

The government didn‘t fund anything (and certainly none of the tracks which are currently laid between Edmonton, Calgary and Kamloops). The CP line would have been built anyways (as exemplified by the fact that two more transcontinental railway lines were built without government subsidies) and...

Any such partnership between CN and CP is very obvioulsy mutually beneficial. What benefit does CP derive from helping out VIA with resources which are in extremely short supply industry-wide…?

Repeat after me: an airline joining a bid to build and operate HFR has absolutely nothing to do with entering a code-share agreement with the future operator. You don’t have to become someone‘s business partner to negotiate special conditions as a client. AC entering an HFR bid is about...

Because we no longer live in the 1990s and its simply not worth the effort, risks and lead times, neither for VIA nor for CP…?

All VIA service is suspended West of Edmonton (including the Skeena) until further notice.

I‘m really puzzled as to how anyone at Cadence thought that bringing AC on board was a good way to promote their bid. The timing of disclosing this alliance (i.e., after the bids have been submitted) surely suggests that they themselves know that this looks rather fishy…