[lenaitch]

I believe any Don Branch routing would refurbish the bridge to the CP line, which, is not the problem area for the flooding. Thats more northerly on the Richmond Hill track.

Really?

 

[cabanabanana]

https://www.torontotoday.ca/local/transportation-infrastructure/high-speed-rail-union-station-alto-ceo-11601676

Based on who's involved in the consortium, and who's in power - I'm putting my chips on Woodbine. Not that I think it *should* or *should not* be Woodbine, but that I think that's where value engineering and the involvement of an airline will take us: Woodbine and some sort of people mover to connect Pearson flights and HSR much in the same way as an airport terminal change.

Whether some services also end up touching downtown Toronto somehow is an open question, and might be a compromise - some services from Union, some services from Woodbine / Pearson.

Remember that many proponents of this project in government aren't already bus and train people - they're very much car and airplane people. If you see the airport or HSR station as a place you drive to in order to then catch a fast thing that takes you somewhere else, then Woodbine with its proximity to the airport and freeway connections makes sense.

(Woodbine also makes it easy to expand service westward in a later phase)

I would be delighted to eat this comment in a year, so long as it's not because someone's decided that a dead-end track right into Pearson itself is the preferred option

 

[McGillicuddy]

Quoting from the Toronto Today story:

Senator Donna Dasko, who lives in Toronto, asked whether Alto intended to build the high-speed rail station in a suburb outside Toronto.

Vincent Robitaille, an assistant deputy minister of Transport Canada, suggested that wouldn’t be the case, noting Ottawa requested Alto build stations in downtown cores, including in Toronto and Montreal.

“We're not talking about the station [being] very far in the suburbs,” he said. “But at this point, we want to let the experts do their work. We want the consultation to take place before any final decision is made.”

So, on the one hand, I'm not sure that Pearson and environs quite meet the brief.

On the other hand, "somewhere inside the city centre, but also budget-friendly and minimally disruptive and suitable for high speed trains" is a nonsense brief.

To rip off an old meme about a triangle: close to downtown; cheap to build; administratively convenient; suitable for high speed rail. Pick any two.

 

[ARG1]

Based on who's involved in the consortium, and who's in power - I'm putting my chips on Woodbine. Not that I think it *should* or *should not* be Woodbine, but that I think that's where value engineering and the involvement of an airline will take us: Woodbine and some sort of people mover to connect Pearson flights and HSR much in the same way as an airport terminal change.

Whether some services also end up touching downtown Toronto somehow is an open question, and might be a compromise - some services from Union, some services from Woodbine / Pearson.

Remember that many proponents of this project in government aren't already bus and train people - they're very much car and airplane people. If you see the airport or HSR station as a place you drive to in order to then catch a fast thing that takes you somewhere else, then Woodbine with its proximity to the airport and freeway connections makes sense.

(Woodbine also makes it easy to expand service westward in a later phase)

I would be delighted to eat this comment in a year, so long as it's not because someone's decided that a dead-end track right into Pearson itself is the preferred option

I mean you're not wrong that there's a small chance they'll have trains running all the way to Pearson, but there's no chance that this would come at the expense of building a station at or near downtown. The consortium is trying to make money here, they're not so stupid as to kneecap the entire project by forcing people to backtrack and take GO/UP to reach Downtown, just to uh... make catching the plane out of Toronto more convenient?