Can we move this “what happens if Quebec separates?” nonsense into a political fantasy thread?

Says who? HSR is in their party platform and most of the pricetag will presumably be absorbed by the private sector, as “Financing” is part of the procurement. Value-engineering and descoping to squeeze public exposure to costs? Quite possible. But scrapping it? I have yet to see PP criticizing...

The market capitalization of CN and CPKC is approximatey $100 billion each, which meanst that we know the absolute lowest price point at which public control over our rail infrastructure could possibly be achieved…

I would not assume that an independent QC (can’t believe that we are seriously talking about it!) would be more restrictive to ON-QC travel than Canada is to US travel. The equivalent of post-clearance at Vancouver Pacific Central can be implemented in Dorval at least and the station in Coteau...

Thanks, and I believed he lived here, though probably around the time that tunnel was closed (and I was born)…

Wow, I always wondered what that was for! 😯

Redundancy is always possible, but at what price? What TC/FRA-compliant DMUs exist on the market? Sure, take the VIA schedule, cross out every second departure and, voila, you got the spare locomotives to run with redundant second locomotives! The problem with food and water rations is that...

This might just be semantics, but the Scarborough RT was already slated for decommissioning and its replacement rolling stock was already also due for replacement retirement. It was simply determined that it’s not worth it to invest into the line to restore it to safe conditions for just a...

And as I wrote on Groups.io, I fail to see for any of the four major incidents of stranded trains I recall in the last two years how stationing additonal tow trains at strategic locations would have made much difference: …considering that the Kingston Sub was closed by stranded freight trains...

I doubt you’ll find any engineer or regulator which would sign such a DIY retrofit off…

Correct. Not really. Converting the Saint-Jerome line into a frequent S-Bahn style service pattern has turned overnight from a $1 billion into a $10+ billion project, which means it’s not going to happen for the next 20 years. It’s important to note that the Mont-Royal tunnel only matters for...

I’m not sure why VIA would have anything to say about this, since they haven’t been involved in this project for years. For everything else, refer to my response from 4 hours ago:

My point is that if a full bus breaks down on a highway curb with an unresolvable issue, a cyclist’s bike breaks down in the middle of a huge forest or if a plane emergency-lands on an abandoned airport, local authorities and emergency services respond as soon as they are alerted and without...

It’s all a matter of frequency: once you run hourly services, it becomes a lot easier to justify maintaining local emergency resources than for a measly 6 train per day (also, such decisions will no longer depend on the approval of useless bureaucrats). Also, without any freight trains in the...

This is in North Bay. The Canadian turns in Washago towards the Northwest, whereas CN’s Newcastle Newmarket Sub continues North before it merges in North Bay into the ONTC network:

It’s indeed quite striking how much more SWO suffered during the 1990 (and 2012) cuts than the Corridor East: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/via-rail.21060/page-397#post-1490546

I guess I forgot how decentralized Canada is, but my point was that only authorities can command companies around to mobilize whatever resources are available. Railroad-specific training might be required in certain situations, but much less than in Europe, where the main danger to rescue...

I would assume that the cost is dramatically higher for a “guaranteed response” than “if resources are available” type of contract, as that implies owning buses and hiring drivers specifically for this contract. So now you got to ask yourself how much taxpayer money you are willing to burn for...

It’s also worth noting that for two out of the three stranded trains I recall in the Corridor (Christmas 2022 winter storm), October 2023 and now, only in the most recent case, buses would have been of any use, due to comprehensive road closures during the winter storm and the train being stuck...

The selection of the preferred proponent only marks the beginning of the “co-development phase”… … which is expected to take years before there is the final decision of the federal government, i.e., way past the next election...