[BASE]

I wonder about the way a project like this would affect the perception and reality of the liveability of Alberta, particularly in the eyes of the rest of Canada and beyond.

Would be interested to see what kind of returns this could bring in terms of new residents and tourists. Edmonton specifically feels remote compared to other major centres in Canada. I think this project would help that a bit.

 

[Gronk!]

Tunneling is a good idea but I'm still not sold on a downtown Edmonton terminal. At the very least they can build a terminal south of Whyte Ave. From Whyte Ave, people can use the gondola, the streetcar or public transit.

 

[BASE]

Tunneling is a good idea but I'm still not sold on a downtown Edmonton terminal. At the very least they can build a terminal south of Whyte Ave. From Whyte Ave, people can use the gondola, the streetcar or public transit.

Love the idea of a tunnel and downtown station. The price difference though between terminating the line at a station near Whyte vs. the tunnel-bridge-tunnel-station required to take it downtown would have to be over 1 Billion would it not? Having the line downtown for office workers and easily connecting to a few LRT lines would be my strong preference.

 

[ChazYEG]

Tunneling is a good idea but I'm still not sold on a downtown Edmonton terminal. At the very least they can build a terminal south of Whyte Ave. From Whyte Ave, people can use the gondola, the streetcar or public transit.

Internally, they're set on having the station at Gov't Centre.

 

[Fetch]

I am curious what their plan is once they hit the cities and at the major cross highways. I am assuming there will have to be grade separation for the high speed rail to work effectively, but will that look like large sections of grade separation through cities especially (ie. from south of 82 Ave along the CP rail ROW to wherever it'll go underground for the bridge to downtown).

 

[IanO]

^and that's the kicker. The shear amount of infrastructure to make this a reasonable travel time/savings is outrageous.

 

[tkoe_]

Seems kind of like vapourware to me. How can they stop at Government Centre? Doesn't the city own the ROW on the High Level and didn't they already say it cannot withstand the loads needed for regular rail traffic? I suppose they could build elevated track in places like the SkyTrain, but how do they acquire property without the ability to expropriate like the government?

 

[Edmcowboy11]

I'd really love to see a realistic station location and route to get into the downtown area. Logistically it seems like a total nightmare.

 

[Fetch]

Seems kind of like vapourware to me. How can they stop at Government Centre? Doesn't the city own the ROW on the High Level and didn't they already say it cannot withstand the loads needed for regular rail traffic? I suppose they could build elevated track in places like the SkyTrain, but how do they acquire property without the ability to expropriate like the government?

I believe the City owns most of the ROW from basically Whyte to Government Centre. Any sort of HSR would have a new dedicated crossing, and it would likely be integrated with some kind of new road crossing to replace/complement the High Level Bridge based on the reports the City has put out about the HLB rehabiltation. Government Centre is probably the best located spot for the terminus due to the complexities required to go further downtown from that point. Having some sort of below ground station integrated into a building anywhere along the former CPR line north of the high level would probably work and would be a way to integrate with the LRT. I would love to see this come to fruition but it'll likely still be a while yet.

 

[ChazYEG]

I believe the City owns most of the ROW from basically Whyte to Government Centre. Any sort of HSR would have a new dedicated crossing, and it would likely be integrated with some kind of new road crossing to replace/complement the High Level Bridge based on the reports the City has put out about the HLB rehabiltation. Government Centre is probably the best located spot for the terminus due to the complexities required to go further downtown from that point. Having some sort of below ground station integrated into a building anywhere along the former CPR line north of the high level would probably work and would be a way to integrate with the LRT. I would love to see this come to fruition but it'll likely still be a while yet.

Spot on

 

[Platinum107]

I attended a conference this week with a presentation by Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson of Ellis Don Capital regarding both the Prairie Sky Gondola and Prairie Link HSR proposals. The presentation was somewhat vague in details as the proposal is still in the developmental stage and he didn't want to release too much proprietary information. However, he provided a few interesting bits of information about the Prairie Link HSR:

• Seven proposed stations (Downtown Edmonton, 34 Ave, YEG, Red Deer, Airdrie, YYC, Downtown Calgary)
• Higher frequency commuter trains will run between Downtown Edmonton / 34 Ave / YEG and Downtown Calgary / YYC / Airdrie
• Express service will run between Downtown Edmonton / YEG / Red Deer / YYC / Downtown Calgary
• During off peak hours, trains will provide a light freight service to increase the value proposition of the project
• Ridership projection is approximately 6.5 million per year (~20,000/day), with half being commuter traffic and half intercity traffic
• Design speed of the alignment is 400 kph, with expected top speed of 350 kph
• Travel time from Downtown Edmonton to Downtown Calgary is 74 minutes
• Total cost of the project is ~$10 billion
• Operational in ~10 years (2032)

Me likey

 

[Fetch]

Spot on

I feel like this would be the likely station location. I don't think the parking lot is City owned but the rail ROW is. This would provide great connection to Government Centre station as well as the government precinct, which I would anticipate would be a large driver of the traffic on the line. Plus having an exit facing the Bowker building would be pretty cool since it would give a good first impression when walking out of the station. If they wanted, they could go farther to where the streetcar terminates now but I'm not sure that'd be necessary or the most efficient.

 

[ChazYEG]

View attachment 398697
I feel like this would be the likely station location. I don't think the parking lot is City owned but the rail ROW is. This would provide great connection to Government Centre station as well as the government precinct, which I would anticipate would be a large driver of the traffic on the line. Plus having an exit facing the Bowker building would be pretty cool since it would give a good first impression when walking out of the station. If they wanted, they could go farther to where the streetcar terminates now but I'm not sure that'd be necessary or the most efficient.

No specific design has been made available yet, but their intention is to have the station around this area, with the construction of a new bridge.
Details for funding, etc are being kept private within a very small group of people and will not be made public anytime soon, but the studies are all indicating a good chance of this all being feasible.

 

[CplKlinger]

View attachment 398697
I feel like this would be the likely station location. I don't think the parking lot is City owned but the rail ROW is. This would provide great connection to Government Centre station as well as the government precinct, which I would anticipate would be a large driver of the traffic on the line. Plus having an exit facing the Bowker building would be pretty cool since it would give a good first impression when walking out of the station. If they wanted, they could go farther to where the streetcar terminates now but I'm not sure that'd be necessary or the most efficient.

The rail ROW is owned by the province if I recall correctly, not the city

 

[Fetch]

The rail ROW is owned by the province if I recall correctly, not the city

I think you're right, my bad.