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I have FedEx'd a letter before (don't just go to Canada Post, but actually go all the way to FedEx). Even though it didn't need an urgently timed reply, the importance of it being read was paramount.

FedEx makes a bold statement & grabs attention like nothing else does. Almost anybody will read a letter that came inside a FedEx envelope, no matter from who.
 
ssiguy2 said:
High Speed rail was promised to London and they can get it at relatively little cost. A few main bypasses and faster diesel trains and they could still run the entire 180km in about 70 minutes [...]. New trains with Win/Lon/Tor non-stop would offer [...] HSR at a mere fraction of the cost traditional HSR [...]
Click to expand...
Again, I'm inviting you to develop on the type of rolling stock and the alignment you envision in order to match the promise to reduce the travel time between Toronto and London to 71 minutes, but at a fraction of the estimated infrastructure cost of (back in 2014) $2.5 billion and without the acceleration and deceleration capabilities of electrical trains. Sketch down your route (.KMZ file for Google Earth, preferably), specify your assumed design (i.e. operating) speed and we can estimate here travel times together. I'm not even sarcastic, smug or anything: as a researcher I'm genuinely interested in the ideas of the people who post here and you sound to me as if you have invested quite some thought into your proposal... :)
 
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ssiguy2 said:
High Speed rail was promised to London and they can get it at relatively little cost.
Click to expand...

And it will be delivered. Just not what you call "High Speed Rail". Like I said before, if they build something, they will just relabel it and call it a day. Mediocrity is the Canadian way. I am just a realist who accepts it for what it is.

ssiguy2 said:
The problem with HFR is that it uses almost all current track and route. That is not a bad thing but using existing infrastructure except that it means that the stations would remain the same. In other words, the HFR will still be forced to stop at every little place it does now. The current London/Toronto could build bypasses to allow VIA to negotiate around freight but if it still has to stop at every little place it will make little difference in the speed.
Click to expand...

1) HFR and TKL are two separate proposals. HFR was never proposed for the TKL corridor. We are all simply assuming that the VIA HFR and provincial TKL HSR proposals will merge. It's just as likely they don't merge and stay the same.

2) There will most certainly be rationalization of stops for both proposals once built. For TOM HFR, the northern line (Shining Waters corridor) means skipping a whole bunch of existing Corridor stops. If you look at the proposed HFR corridor, I can only see stops in Markham, Peterborough, Kaladar (maybe), Smiths Falls and Fallowfield before Ottawa. That's 5 stops. As opposed to 8 intermediate stops today. There simply not population centres en route to stop at beyond those towns.

For TKL HSR, I have said before they'll also rationalize stops. However, can't happen without GO RER to provide coverage at those intermediate stops. You want to cut stops? Push for the RER.

ssiguy2 said:
In case you hadn't noticed, I live in Vancouver but I know a complete waste of funds when I see one.
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Then you should realize what a non-starter it is to invest in projects that could be perceived as exclusively benefiting Ontario. And HFR will be massively high-profile and exclusively federal spending.
 
TOareaFan said:
For fun, I sent this yesterday to two cabinet ministers who are, normally, pretty active on twitter. As yet no reply.

https://twitter.com/TOareaFan/status/818505621238648832

If you have a twitter account....and are so inclined.....feel free to send a similar tweet (or just quote retweet mine) and maybe (not holding breath) they will respond to someone.

:) ;)
Click to expand...

Good initiative - I'd also recommend tweeting/contacting Minister's staffers. For MTO, their info can be found on the bottom of most press releases.
 
crs1026 said:
I wonder when we will see Mr Collenette's facts and figures. In time for the next budget, right before the election call?

http://www.metronews.ca/news/london...ne-drops-high-speed-rail-hint-for-london.html

http://www.lfpress.com/2014/04/30/e...between-london-and-toronto-to-start-this-year

- Paul
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I am irrationally angry this evening.....not really because this may not happen (if you go back to the start of the thread you will no doubt find places where I expressed concern about how much ridership this would generate and whether it is/was viable) but because rather than our government saying "we made a couple of promises in 2014 that we now find in conflict with each other. On the one hand we promised high speed rail but on the other hand we promised to be prudent managers of the taxpayers' money. After studying the high speed rail we find the business case shows it is not a prudent use of that money and we are not going ahead with it." ......that I could respect.

No, rather, this government resorts to its base instinct that if you just deny what you said, treat the taxpayers like fools/idiots with short memories and say it with enough conviction you can actually rewrite history and Glen Murray's promise to deliver HSR within 10 years will somehow turn into a simple promise to study high speed rail.
 
TOareaFan said:
I am irrationally angry this evening.....not really because this may not happen (if you go back to the start of the thread you will no doubt find places where I expressed concern about how much ridership this would generate and whether it is/was viable) but because rather than our government saying "we made a couple of promises in 2014 that we now find in conflict with each other. On the one hand we promised high speed rail but on the other hand we promised to be prudent managers of the taxpayers' money. After studying the high speed rail we find the business case shows it is not a prudent use of that money and we are not going ahead with it." ......that I could respect.

No, rather, this government resorts to its base instinct that if you just deny what you said, treat the taxpayers like fools/idiots with short memories and say it with enough conviction you can actually rewrite history and Glen Murray's promise to deliver HSR within 10 years will somehow turn into a simple promise to study high speed rail.
Click to expand...

Exactly. They promised it, it was part of their $29bn ten-year infrastructure investment, they got a lot of attention and votes in the London area with that promise. I know people in that area that think HSR is coming any day now. But today it's announced that no, no one was ever promised anything. Too bad they were: https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2014/04/province-moving-forward-with-high-speed-rail-plans.html. But I guess the MovingOntarioForward.ca dead link should be a giveaway about how the Prov wants to bury even recent history.
 
It's quite true that they did promise to plan and study in 2014, even if it was designed to sound like a promise to build. Several statements in the press release linked by 44 North demonstrate that:

Ontario is moving forward with plans...
The province is committing to finalizing the business case and beginning an environmental assessment...
...the high speed rail line would better connect southwestern Ontario businesses with the global economy.
High speed rail would help move people safely and efficiently between Toronto and London.
High speed rail connecting London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto would be a tremendous economic boost to southwest Ontario.
 
I am not voting Liberal in the next election. I don't care if the PCs win. Their corruption was tolerable when they were actually delivering on something. Now they're not even doing that.
 
CapitalSeven said:
It's quite true that they did promise to plan and study in 2014, even if it was designed to sound like a promise to build. Several statements in the press release linked by 44 North demonstrate that:

Ontario is moving forward with plans...
The province is committing to finalizing the business case and beginning an environmental assessment...
...the high speed rail line would better connect southwestern Ontario businesses with the global economy.
High speed rail would help move people safely and efficiently between Toronto and London.
High speed rail connecting London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto would be a tremendous economic boost to southwest Ontario.
Click to expand...
Neatly ignores that Murray not only promised to build it, he said it would happen within 10 years.
 
I never really believed this was going to happen, because a) even in 2014 I saw Wynne as a lying opportunist in the McGinty tradition; but also because b) having made the promise, nothing was ever done to get this moving. Placing the project under MOT, rather than ML, and the Collenette mission (a toe-in-the-water strategy if there ever was one) seemed to keep this out of the hands of anyone who would push it forward. Del Duca has always been mute on the topic. If Murray actually had an interest in HSR, it left the portfolio when he dId.

What I find so appalling in this government is not that they lie - all politicians do some of that - but how clueless they are at saying things without thinking through the potential consequences. I can't believe that Colenette's analysis would have slammed HSR - nor would he have found a strong anti HSR sentiment. There would be public skepticism and sticker aversion, true, but the business and political communities in both KW and London are in favour. So while QP was never serious about it, they have painted themselves into a corner all the same.

Having said that, the concept is comparable to a kettle that never boils but never gets taken off the burner either. Matthews' comments clearly suggest that the heat has been turned down, but that could change. There are elections coming, and the allegation that the Liberals are warm to KW and cool to London is a hot button - just look at how that tactic played out in Scarborough.

- Paul
 
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