11-03-2015, 01:50 PM
The Record's view: Answers needed on high-speed passenger trains through Kitchener
I'd like to see some answers to these issues. For example, a 160km/hr train would make 1 hour Waterloo to Union commutes possible (including time to make a few intermediate stops.) Perhaps that's "good enough" compared to true HSR if the price differential is great enough.
We should also look at merging this rail option with GO (and with a link to YYZ) if at all possible. Perhaps if the new Union-Pearson line could be upgraded to be part of this there could be an express train from Union to KW to London, etc. with a stop at YYZ. This is the sort of service that railways throughout Europe provide.
Quote:Ontarians need to see the comprehensive business plan for high-speed rail. Give the people hard, realistic estimates for how many passengers would use it 10 and 20 years from now.
Let's see realistic cost estimates, too. What would the price be for a ticket? How high would construction costs soar? A previous Ontario government estimate that suggested a 185-kilometre high-speed rail line could be built between London and Toronto for $2.5 billion seems impossibly low when you consider the cost of land acquisition, hammering in tracks that can safely hold high-speed trains, buying trains and making every road crossing safe and secure along the route.
By contrast, a joint federal, Ontario and Quebec study from 2011 concluded a high-speed link between Quebec City and Windsor would cost $21 billion to build. Even when you take into account the estimate is for a greater distance, the $2.5-billion figure seems off. Heck, it's costing close to a billion dollars just to build an 18-kilometre light rail line in Kitchener and Waterloo...
[Via's president] Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, considers high-speed rail a poor investment and has no interest in building such a system in this corridor. Instead, he wants money for a Windsor to Quebec City rail corridor dedicated only to passenger service that could run at 160 km/h. "That option is much cheaper (than high-speed rail) at a third of the price and it serves more people," he said earlier this year.
It's also worth noting that Via Rail will be asking the incoming federal government to back its $4-billion plan to build this dedicated track on the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor. Southern Ontario could benefit from better passenger rail service — but it doesn't need two railways competing with each other and providing overlapping services propped up by tax dollars.
Finally, Collenette should explain how high-speed rail would complement the province's plans to improve GO train commuter service. Does Ontario need both?
I'd like to see some answers to these issues. For example, a 160km/hr train would make 1 hour Waterloo to Union commutes possible (including time to make a few intermediate stops.) Perhaps that's "good enough" compared to true HSR if the price differential is great enough.
We should also look at merging this rail option with GO (and with a link to YYZ) if at all possible. Perhaps if the new Union-Pearson line could be upgraded to be part of this there could be an express train from Union to KW to London, etc. with a stop at YYZ. This is the sort of service that railways throughout Europe provide.