Thanks for mentioning the last federal election (less than four months ago!), where the leading party was confirmed in power by a vote share which is indistinguishable from the federal share (42.6% vs. 43.8%), whereas the separist party received marginally less votes than the parties ending...

I‘m really reluctant to give this „what if Quebec decides to separate from Canada overnight?“ nonsense any attention it very obviously doesn’t deserve here, but just this much: About independence referenda The main points which became evident from the mess after the referenda regarding the...

There is a strong commercial and operational reason to expand ALTO service to Pearson: commercially, as that‘s the pre-requisite for moving connection flights to the „ground level“, and operationally, to minimize their footprint at Union Station where Metrolinx will be very reluctant to tolerate...

The same applies to the people here who praise Brightline West for being so cheap to build when construction will continue for a few years…!

I‘m really not sure what you are trying so compulsively to prove at this point beyond your irrational hatred against Metrolinx and your embarrassing ignorance of the fundamental trends and challenges the global construction industry and especially the rail construction industry is facing...

I really don’t understand what your problem is: you are paying more than anyone else has ever paid for a metropolitan rail network transformation in North America and you are getting more upgrades than anyone else in NA has ever received. It costs what it costs and prices naturally explode if a...

No, you are paying for the largest investment program any metropolitan passenger rail network in North America has ever seen and that is also what you are getting. No reason to whine around just because the most ambitious project to ever proceed to constructuon stage was not ambitious enough for...

Yeah, I don’t recall that Canadian pension funds‘ exposure to European rail projects (HS1 and Eurotunnel, anyone?) were that lucrative either…

Something similar happened in 2012 (when the Canadian was cut from 3 to 2 tph outside the summer season), but at two trains per week passing through Alberta and three trains per week terminating at its Western-most edge, I‘m not sure what VIA could possibly be cutting in Alberta…

You can look up the equipment for any departure here: https://www.traincar.info/ Also from me, best of luck to your family!

A friend sent me these recent photos:

Dividing the total price tag of $989 million by 32 trainsets and then 7 units (assuming that a locomotive is twice as expensive as a car) suggests $4.5 million a car, so maybe a ballpark figure of $5 million is plausible?

Would you mind continuing this conversation in private messages rather than here, as I recall at least a dozen times where the very same points were explained to the very same commenter?

The one which currently gets dismembered, after it has become abundantly clear that nobody is going to invest 9 or 10 digits to revive that isolated line? No such lines exist right now and there is so far no funding for such additional services at the horizon. Replacing the RDCs for...

Where and (if for a new service) with what Operating Funding could VIA possibly use additional RDCs?

Tons and tons of enabling work so that once all tracks are finally in their right place, electrification can proceed relatively swiftly…

The entire point of highlighting the example of Perth was to show that whereas the desired end state of the original GO Expansion scope is totally reasonable (and very comparable to what Perth has achieved), it will take multiple decades to achieve that state when starting from our current...

In stations where VIA controls access to the platform, VIA does not let you on the platform before the train has arrived. Therefore, you can be sure to be able to board the train if you arrive no later than the train. I couldn’t agree more, but the UK does the same crap: closing the doors 40-60...

There obviously is no such ridiculous rule and nobody is stopping you from boarding, as long as you arrive before boarding closes…

Which of course raises the questions “Why would CN sell the Grimsby Sub?” and “How would CN’s trains travel from Toronto to Buffalo?”…