Indeed, there is no shortage of provincial rail infrastructure projects where the federal government could chip in to unlock using them for ALTO…

I‘m not sure how anyone could be surprised by Ontario‘s government being supportive of ALTO, given that this project seems to proceed without (so far) asking Ontarian taxpayers for a single Dollar. Also, expect Doug Ford to swoop in once routing options gets published and inevitably become very...

Provided that you are able to work on the train and are a bit flexible in your time, I don’t understand why anyone would chose the plane over the train…

I think it’s obvious that it’s too early to tell whether ALTO will end up choosing a route through or around Tweed (both with or without a station) or choose an entirely different route (e.g., via Kingston). However, it should be also obvious that they won’t choose more than one of these three...

Just out of interest, what kind of dedicated “standard rail” infrastructure and services do you envision for places like Tweed?

Last westbound departure on a Saturday to Cornwall and Kingston will be barely after lunchtime (13:22). I can and will never understand this irrational obsession on these 5pm trains, even on the evening of the week where business travellers are the least likely to travel. Express trains might...

You are describing, whether you like it or not, exactly the levers how local opposition is placated in other countries: You want rural folks to swallow highly disruptive construction work for half a decade and permanent noise pollution? Then better pack some sweeteners and go to the negotiation...

The rolling stock is actually faster, but the infrastructure is slower…

There have been a lot of seat reassignments recently, as my inbox can attest: Almost all of these reassignments were for trains 62 and 63, so presumably unrelated to the Express train trial...

If your aim is to calm down (rather than fire up) the NIMBYs, I‘m not sure I would show them the lower photo as an illustration of the project…

Sorry, I was quite busy last week and then forgot to reply here. I've already identified Perth as a comparable city in a comparable country which has already achieved something which is comparable to what GO Expansion was (and still more or less is) expected to deliver over the next few...

You will have to tell that (in a compelling tone!) to the communities through which you want to plough. Have a look at the list I just posted. None of these stations were added for any commercial motives…

You are assuming that ALTO will inevitably drill through the Canadian Shield rather than skirt around it. Besides, the smallest municipalities with a stop at a German HSR corridor are: * Montabaur (pop. 14,677) * Allersberg (pop. 8,550) * Kinding (pop. 2,549) * Merklingen (pop. 2,051)

Nobody says that you have to command CMA status (i.e., a metroplitan population of at least 100,000) to demand (and potentially receive) a stop on a new rail corridor, even if it’s nominally HSR…

The mistake here is to respond to and engage the sad troll who has never been able to acknowledge that it was his native city (London) which rejected HFR*, while cities like Quebec City lobbied hard to get included. The joke is clearly on Southwestern Ontario, at this point… *Not for excluding...

There are, broadly, two different scenarios where Metrolinx/GO might need hybrid locomotives: To extend beyond a core network which will eventually be electrified. This would only justify the conversion of part of the existing GO fleet (i.e., for those trains operating beyond the electrified...

Much longer (400 vs. 180 km), much more deviations from any legacy rail corridors, much more environmental impacts to mitigate and much more cities fighting for their station along the route.

That would be further hints that they intend to build MTRL-OTTW first, as that’s the only segment with any chance of having a route at least partially finalized within 4 years…

I understand your frustration over the progress and communication of this megaproject, but I don’t think I qualify (anymore) as an insider for any purpose of this discussion. It is quite possible that I would get just as frustrated at Metrolinx as you if I hadn’t already seen a very similar...

I rephrased my two last posts to remove an unnecessarily snarky tone. I wholeheartedly believe that fascinating discussions can be had by comparing available or potential electrification technologies, but most of that seems to belong into the “general railway discussions” thread, as it doesn’t...