raptor
Senior Member
+ the infinite amount of studies, EA's, TPAP's, oh and public consultations!
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- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Allandale25
Senior Member
High Speed Rail came up in the NDP-OLP fight over budget numbers. Tweet thread here by a columnist and original NDP response here. Rather than post this second image, the last sentence that's cut off says "does not ensure it is funded." The purpose of this post isn't to say which party is right or wrong. Just noting it came up today.
Allandale25
Senior Member
HSR came up tonight on The Agenda. Comment from a local Councillor opposed:
https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/996841448510296064?s=19
https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/996841448510296064?s=19
cplchanb
Senior Member
well tbf HSR is not designed for every township and small municipality. if that were to happen there wont be time for the trains to actually run at speed. they should build the core infrastructure first
and when time and money permits they can build intermediate stops and add more local service just like the kodama and nozomi trains on the JR
TOareaFan
Superstar
Not even designed for every large municipality either.
hw621
Senior Member
How shorted sighted is this?!
ShonTron
Moderator
No. But there's no strategy, or even acknowledgement of the needs of smaller communities that could feed the HSR system. Why focus on building high speed rail from Toronto to London when you can't get from London to St. Thomas? Why not acknowledge that HSR is a complementary service to regional and local passenger services.
The problem is the province has been studying HSR in a vacuum.
cplchanb
Senior Member
doesnt via rail already serve straford and the smaller towns? They can take those trains to connect to the larger stations. it seems like they want a HSR stop at their town which doesnt make sense. Not every township can get a higher order train station. The best they can get is to have either a via or go stop. Besides, we are not like japan where rail is the primary form of transport. these small communities need to realise that unless theres a huge boom in rail infrastructure they are unfortunately the odd ones out.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
Messaging needs to be improved to be more friendly -- that the infrastructure will accomodate improved connections to local trains (GO trains, VIA trains).
And the improved rail infrastructure in nearby cities often invites improved town-to-city bus connections -- so that a small town half an hour outside of Kitchener becomes a simpler bus hop to a now-more-popular station such as Action, Breslau, Guelph, Georgetown, or whatever stops become extant.
It's not like that the right-of-ways will always exclusively be used only by HSR trains (for the section between Kitchener and Toronto).
With track twinning (plus track tripling and quadrupling at appropriate places, especially closer to Georgetown thru Brampton), and multiple crossing tracks planned, HSR and GO/VIA will be sharing the corridors.
Good farm crossings will need to be in order at tolerable intervals along the corridor, when grade-separating to give enough room for big equipment like combines.
A form of inclusive and unified messaging is in order, for the good of VIA, GO, HSR.
Perhaps they are hedging (annoyingly for the people affected) but the message needs to be more unified.
And the improved rail infrastructure in nearby cities often invites improved town-to-city bus connections -- so that a small town half an hour outside of Kitchener becomes a simpler bus hop to a now-more-popular station such as Action, Breslau, Guelph, Georgetown, or whatever stops become extant.
It's not like that the right-of-ways will always exclusively be used only by HSR trains (for the section between Kitchener and Toronto).
With track twinning (plus track tripling and quadrupling at appropriate places, especially closer to Georgetown thru Brampton), and multiple crossing tracks planned, HSR and GO/VIA will be sharing the corridors.
Good farm crossings will need to be in order at tolerable intervals along the corridor, when grade-separating to give enough room for big equipment like combines.
A form of inclusive and unified messaging is in order, for the good of VIA, GO, HSR.
Perhaps they are hedging (annoyingly for the people affected) but the message needs to be more unified.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I believe Stratford and St. Mary's have two trains each direction per day with VIA.
cplchanb
Senior Member
if thats the case it would seem like theyre calling to be part of the hsr pie which to be honest doesnt make sense except maybe stratford because of the tourist value.
ShonTron
Moderator
The province doesn't have any say over VIA Rail (It should, but VIA has not enough autonomy as a restricted crown corporation. Amtrak partners with several states who help to fund passenger services.) But it has allowed intercity buses -- that ideally would feed regional and high speed rail -- to decline into nothing. There aren't even buses to places like Goderich and St. Thomas. Smaller municipalities like St. Marys and Ingersoll and Woodstock are right to be concerned that with HSR, there wouldn't be continued local rail service once the big cities are connected by the new service.
TOareaFan
Superstar
See @ShonTron 's reply after this. I believe the real worry here is how long will places like St. Mary's and Stratford have that service from VIA if there is no ridership being generated for VIA in the larger markets. That Sarnia to Toronto train stops in those markets on its way to Kitchener....if the HSR is siphoning off the ridership in places like Kitchener.....will that train keep running at all? Can VIA make a business out of being the guy who serves only the small markets.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Something tells me that if Stratford had enough London-Kitchener-Toronto transit options to make living there/working elsewhere more comfortable, they would become alarmed quite quickly as developers rode into town.
dowlingm
Senior Member
From the VIA Rail thread:
The Corporate Plan foresaw Sarnia runs being switched to the Woodstock route. Mind you, the Corp Plan probably thought the RDC trials were gonna go somewhere.