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steveintoronto said:
Bear in mind that "High Speed Rail" is a very loose term, and the short answer is "no, it won't be *High Speed Rail* in the hyped form" (Over 200 mph). It will be *Higher Speed Rail* (over 110 mph to 125mph)(= 200 kph), and HFR fits that exquisitely.
Click to expand...

good point. Time to change the title of the thread - it leaves the wrong impression it would like the TGV.
HSR = 250km/h+, at least in 2017.
 
From @blissblogs on twitter:

EXCLUSIVE!! Sources tell me Ont to fund $15mill Enviro Assmnt to start HIGH SPEED RAIL line Toronto-Windsor. Details at 6p #onpoli #cdnpoli
 
I really hope there are concrete plans for future expansion towards Montreal and Ottawa where most of the business for rail is at. There really is no point just stopping at Toronto to Windsor as it will once again be a stub line persay like Sheppard. ~300km distance for hsr is nothing in the grand scheme and if they are going to make money they need to get it from the corridor.
 
So....Glen Murray's back of the envelope plan to run High Speed trains to KW...that was announced just prior to the election.....that was then expanded before the election to include London.....and just recently was just described by Deb Matthews as not a promise (even though he said it would running within 10 years)...is now going ahead and is expanded to Windsor?

and is being described as something that will help people work in Toronto but live farther afield.....this is the government that was gonna end sprawl?
 
raptor said:
From @blissblogs on twitter:

EXCLUSIVE!! Sources tell me Ont to fund $15mill Enviro Assmnt to start HIGH SPEED RAIL line Toronto-Windsor. Details at 6p #onpoli #cdnpoli
Click to expand...

Environmental assessments are only worth the paper they're written at this stage, IMO, especially if they're not attached to any further funding.

That being said (From link above):

A report examining the feasibility of the line will be released Friday.

It was commissioned by the Ontario government and carried out by former federal Transport Minister David Collenette.

His report estimates there would be 10-million annual riders by the year 2041.

Two scenarios are proposed.

Scenario "A" would see trains that travel top speed of 300 km/h and cost $149 million per kilometer.

Scenario "B" would see trains that travel top speed of 250 km/h and cost of $55 million per kilometer.

Those per kilometer costs are in line with prices of high speed rail lines in Europe.

The Ontario government would seek out private financing and private partners while working with VIA and Metrolinx.

The initial phase would see the trains go to Kitchener-Waterloo, which has become a high tech hub employing thousands of people, many of whom live in Toronto but commute for work.
Click to expand...

That's where Collenette's report ended up. Hope to see it this Friday.
 
Ontario politicians are excellent at launching projects that they don't have the political courage to fund.
 
cplchanb said:
I really hope there are concrete plans for future expansion towards Montreal and Ottawa where most of the business for rail is at. There really is no point just stopping at Toronto to Windsor as it will once again be a stub line persay like Sheppard. ~300km distance for hsr is nothing in the grand scheme and if they are going to make money they need to get it from the corridor.
Click to expand...

The key stop on the route is KW not Windsor. It's Canada's premier technology hub. Toronto and KW are far stronger together and HSR between the 2 will help the tech industry in both prosper. Today, getting to KW from Toronto is a pain in the neck.
 
Bayer said:
Ontario politicians are excellent at launching projects that they don't have the political courage to fund.
Click to expand...

As soon as I read the announcement I thought of the Australian TV show Utopia. Highly recommended if you like shows like The Office. I believe it is on Netflix. Search for Dreamland (different title here).

 
I've been duped before. That 300 km/h London-Toronto route was promised before the last provincial election to be built in 10 years. No shovels in the ground yet, and the Liberals backtracked saying they only wanted to 'study' it.

Bleh, it will probably turn out to be just another study and nothing more anyway

 
@Haljackey

Exactly what I thought of. An EA and no commitment to actually build anything? The Liberals have real contempt for the people of Southwestern Ontario if they expect people to fall for that again.

Also, looks like they are trying to find a way to roll this into VIA's HFR proposal as I predicted. This way, they don't have to fund anything and can take credit when VIA delivers.
 
I bet the Chinese would finish the HSR linking Shanghai and Singapore via Vietnam earlier than completion of this project.

Election time, always fun to watch. In Ontario, trains do not carry riders. They carry ridings.
 
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