MisterF
Senior Member
^Attack and then play the victim. That's his MO.
There have been a lot of claims, often made with 100% certainty, that the abandoned CP line simply cannot be used for this kind of service and can't be realistically rebuilt for the $3-4 billion we're talking about. So for the first part of that, what specifically prevents trains from going 177 km/h on that right of way? The curve radii, the ROW width, the grades? What is required and what does this ROW have? I'm not an engineer so someone more informed than myself might be able to answer these questions.
The second question is the cost. According to the study done by Metrolinx, the Peterborough rail line would have cost $541 million to completely rebuild the track and bring it up to 80 mph (129 km/h) standard. Del Mastro's estimate was half that, but I think it's safe to assume that the Metrolinx numbers are just a tad more reliable. For 172 km of track, that ends up being about $3.1 million/km. Upgrading it to 177 km/h standard would obviously cost more, let's say $5 million/km. From Toronto to the CP line at Perth is about 320 km total that would have to be completely rebuilt. So assuming $5 million/km, that distance would cost around $1.6 billion. Add a billion to account for the difficulties of building in the Canadian Shield and another billion for electrification, we're getting pretty close to the numbers that Via is talking about. Seems pretty realistic to me, at least cost wise.
There have been a lot of claims, often made with 100% certainty, that the abandoned CP line simply cannot be used for this kind of service and can't be realistically rebuilt for the $3-4 billion we're talking about. So for the first part of that, what specifically prevents trains from going 177 km/h on that right of way? The curve radii, the ROW width, the grades? What is required and what does this ROW have? I'm not an engineer so someone more informed than myself might be able to answer these questions.
The second question is the cost. According to the study done by Metrolinx, the Peterborough rail line would have cost $541 million to completely rebuild the track and bring it up to 80 mph (129 km/h) standard. Del Mastro's estimate was half that, but I think it's safe to assume that the Metrolinx numbers are just a tad more reliable. For 172 km of track, that ends up being about $3.1 million/km. Upgrading it to 177 km/h standard would obviously cost more, let's say $5 million/km. From Toronto to the CP line at Perth is about 320 km total that would have to be completely rebuilt. So assuming $5 million/km, that distance would cost around $1.6 billion. Add a billion to account for the difficulties of building in the Canadian Shield and another billion for electrification, we're getting pretty close to the numbers that Via is talking about. Seems pretty realistic to me, at least cost wise.
I think NIMBYs would be a pretty big obstacle. They've got used to using the rail trail and would no doubt make a huge fuss about that being replaced with a train every half an hour.As for the NIMBYism, these groups are much easier dealt with along active railroads than in communities which have never seen a railroad anywhere near them...