Dan416
Senior Member
So who's writing to Bombardier to petition to them to lobby the government to have a TGV?
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So who's writing to Bombardier to petition to them to lobby the government to have a TGV?
It doesn't have to be TGV and it doesn't have to be Bombardier.
I read an article in Macleans a couple of weeks ago about the skyrocketing price of oil, and the repercussions our society may face as a result. The article stated that when a barrel of oil hits $180 to 200... the business model for global air travel falls apart.
The result: that in the near future (when oil trends toward that price, and maybe even sooner if people just realize ITS IN OUR BEST INTERESTS TO GET OFF OF OIL...NOW) high speed rail travel, such as in many of the progressive European cities whose systems we envy, will rule the day. So perhaps in another 5 - 10 years the model will be much, much more economical.
At least I hope so... a true high speed rail line would be badass.
- Air Canada's recent layoffs of approx. 2100 employees. This was apparently due to the rise in oil prices. If this is the case from a shift from 1.00 to 1.35 a litre (I know airplanes use jet fuel, and its priced different, just bare with me) then what happens if the price rises to 2.00 a litre? Are these layoffs part of what you are describing as a rebalancing of costs ie. labour, etc?
First the strong Euro is shielding them to an extent, but some airlines have gone belly-up there as well.I suppose we could simply look to Europe where the cost of fuels is much higher. The airline industry seems to be alright there, right?
Get ready for social and economic chaos. On the scale of Russia in the 1990s.- Inflation is a bitch. Oil, or some derivative thereof, is in almost everything we produce. If the price of oil does increase too quickly though, and we see those costs transferred to consumer products, wouldn't it have a potentially devastating effect on the economy?
Fuel prices alone can justify investment in high speed rail. Sh!tty Air Canada service, dumbass drivers on the 401, and anything else will also help.- And I agree that we can't use the questionable future of fuel prices as the only selling point for a true high speed rail line. Sadly, dollars and cents is what the bottom line is for many of the people making the decisions, and the environmental factors, ease of use and whatever, don't play a major factor.
And I agree that we can't use the questionable future of fuel prices as the only selling point for a true high speed rail line. Sadly, dollars and cents is what the bottom line is for many of the people making the decisions, and the environmental factors, ease of use and whatever, don't play a major factor.
My point: the price sensitivity of many products to changes in price of oil is much less than 1. Let's not get too hysterical. The sky is not falling. There will be a period of adjustment as systems adjust to use more labour and capital, and less fuel. I read something in the paper about how Wal-Mart is doing this, by packing trailers not using pallets as is traditionally done, but by individually stacking boxes in the trailer. This helps to maximize the volume utilization of the truck (and the fuel it burns on each trip), at the expense of labour costs (but there are lots of high school kids willing to work for minimum wage). Also keep in mind that there is a ceiling on energy prices. If the price of oil quadruples, even marginal alternative energy technology becomes attractive. Maybe not in private automobiles, but certainly for industrial processes, institutional utility requirements and commercial transportation.
You know that every Metrolinx project is being screened for PPP and that there is a long list of projects that are being recommended for PPP, right?
The only difference is that we're not calling it PPP...