Would the in-progress work allow for future two-way all-day service at 30min frequencies to Kitchener/Guelph? Or would a freight bypass be required for that service level?

The delay in construction of various stations seems tied to Ford's insistence on private developers building the stations for them. A government with a different strategy likely would speed things up (hopefully).

The Amtrak plan only entails having their trains stop at Windsor and then have passengers switch to VIA trains headed to Toronto. The frequency likely won't be more than a couple trains a day. That wouldn't be enough to discourage GO/Metrolinx if they were considering expanding in that direction.

The entire Quebec City-Toronto Corridor is being handed over to a private consortium to operate and maintain, thats more what my comment was directed towards. They seem to lessening their involvement in passenger rail.

I was similarly confused when they paved a new multiuse path on the northside of Eglinton east of Jane not too long ago when it was clear that it was the location of the tunnel portal approaching Mount Dennis. Just over a year or two after completion they tore it up and constructed a two-way...

Inter-City rail service west of Toronto will likely need to be provincially-led since VIA is trending towards slowly phasing out of service instead of expanding. Considering this government's hyper-focus on highways it's unlikely we'd see that anytime soon.

Could be wrong, but seems HxR will have a new name/branding seperate from VIA rail. Indicatations are the new consortium that's awarded the contract will be free to name the service what they want.

Agreed. The high end HSR would likely be attracting business travelers who mostly fly in the corridor currently. The CEO however is positioning this service as a way to reduce vehicle congestion on the highway/roads, which would be heavily dependent on affordable pricing.

This part made me chuckle.

VIA HFR CEO Imbleau with another interview, this time with the Ottawa Business Journal. https://obj.ca/via-hfr-what-is-it-and-what-does-it-mean-for-you/ Not much in the way of new details, but he's continuing to indicate this project as having HSR speeds with certain comments: He's also...

The Globe published a letter from one of Pearson's VPs where a future VIA HFR connection at Pearson was discussed. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/article-how-to-fix-debate-in-parliament/

This could just be a continuation of their approach to rail connections in Europe. AC started allowing the booking of train connections this year to destinations in Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. They likely saw the benefits after Deutsch Bahn joined Star Alliance in 2022 and became...

Wonder if the recent Federal announcements related to Purpose-Built Rentals will push up the timeline on this project. If it's still staying as majority rental, that is.

Ideally shouldn't be an either/or scenario. The Feds can pour money into the TOR/MON rail corridor while finding solutions for the Transit Hub. It would, however, require more political will and appetite to actually want to upgrade the transit infrastructure in this country than the Fed...

The Feds and Province seem totally asleep at the wheel in recognizing how vital the Transit Hub would be to the region. At this point, a possible 2026 win by Crombie for the provincial premiership could be the only thing to breathe life into this proposal. With her background as Mississauga...

If the Federal government doesn't want to spend Tax-payer funds to improve Pearson, then it's time they sell off a portion of the airport to a private investor. The current model of relying on raising fees to just tread water is broken, as Pearson already has some of the highest fees in the...

Making Pearson more "Green" is all well and good I'm sure, but it'll be putting lipstick on a pig if they don't significantly improve the passenger experience to one befitting of a growing global hub.

kudos to the team. Almost looks like a modern ballpark in the interior.

Will be tough to get vocal public support when the entire process seems very slow. The CEO is saying it'll be 3-4 years before they can even confirm how fast the trains will go. The scope of the project will be largely shaped by the speed of the trip so will be hard to get the public at large...

Could be wrong but think that it's constructed to coincide with duration of the Onxpress agreement. They signed the agreement in 2022 for 25 years so there is 23 years left.