(11-05-2015, 11:00 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: It wouldn't make much difference for KW-Toronto but it would for Detroit-Quebec City, which is where we are going with this. Moreover, whatever decision we make would likely not be upgraded in decades. Are we prepared to forego HSR until 2050?Two different needs here. Our region needs a viable "fast" rail infrastructure that serves commuters and general passengers (including users of YYZ) far more than we need "high speed" service to Detroit or Montreal. The current 2+ hours on SLO Transit, even if trains ran hourly, is laughable. It's also embarrassing for a G-7 country and a region with pretensions of becoming Silicon Valley North. This requirement needs to get satisfied ASAP. Even 10 years is too long.
Quote:Also have we lost the capacity as a nation to dream big? This seems to me like Avro arrow all over. We have a window of opportunity, the demand seems to be there, all that it requires is the capacity of people to dream big and reach for the stars.Oh come on. This isn't another Arrow fiasco(*). There's nothing wrong with dreaming big providing we have the economic wherewithall to follow through. Until we can see some solid cost and projected demand numbers to compare "fast" with HSR then dreaming big could result either in paralysis (no decision gets made so we get no expanded rail service at all) or a nightmare (the project begins but either runs into snags or actual ridership is far less than projected.) Consider how long (in decades!) it took to get a decent rail connection between YYZ and Union. And when it finally came about ridership was way below expectations because so few people could afford the fares. Is that what we want to happen with HSR?
Again, I don't see anyone here rejecting HSR out of hand. We'd all prefer it over slower options providing it's demonstrably the better choice. We all want to see some realistic cost numbers, construction schedules and usage projections between the two options so we can reach informed opinions. As far as can tell that sort of information isn't available yet.
(*) Perhaps the Turbo Train is an even better example of big dreams that turned into nightmares, deservedly or not.