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High-Speed Rail (HSR) - Toronto/Pearson/Kitchener/London
(04-27-2017, 01:11 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: My point was that, Via rail could provide far better service at a pretty low cost just by improving tracks. 

And that's really it.  Both of VIA's current locomotive types (F40PH and P42DC) are capable of 170+ km/h, and GO's MP40 can reach 150 km/h.  And yet the average speeds between Kitchener and Toronto for the two are only 73 km/h and 60 km/h, respectively.  The trains are not the biggest problem at the moment, the track is.

And better service will bring in more customers -- guaranteed -- for both VIA and GO.
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Yeah, the branding problem takes care of itself (or w/ basic marketing) if there are actual substantive changes made.
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(04-26-2017, 11:15 PM)trainspotter139 Wrote: I say to hell with just 170 km/h we should really try to build the equivalent of the North-East Corridor (Amtrak) here. 150 mph (241 km/h) maximum speed on dedicated 4 wide track would make quite the difference.

Maximum speed is meaningless except to train geeks.  Average speed (and travel time) is what matters.  VIA's current average speed is only 40% of the maximum so it's not even close to the travel times by car.
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(04-25-2017, 09:43 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(04-25-2017, 09:18 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: Another study, yay!

It will probably conclude that the issue should be studied some more. But it seems that could have been determined just by sheer extrapolation, rather than going through a full study.

Back in the mid 1980s and 1990s, I along with many others delivered study data and presentations to support high-speed rail to the Quebec City to Windsor High Speed Rail Corridor study, which was co-chaired by high-speed internet guy Ted Rogers. There were of course other non-supportive presentations. In the end elections prevailed and the money has always dried up.

Thirty years of studies and only the consultants  Blush  and lawyers Tongue  have made money and still no progress to date in 2017.
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I still have a booklet from ABB's "Sprintor" concept for our corridor, the X2000, from my childhood.  I cherished that booklet!  It was neat to finally get to ride the "real" X2000 in Sweden in 2012, like closing out a chapter.
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(05-01-2017, 12:07 PM)Canard Wrote: I still have a booklet from ABB's "Sprintor" concept for our corridor, the X2000, from my childhood.  I cherished that booklet!  It was neat to finally get to ride the "real" X2000 in Sweden in 2012, like closing out a chapter.

... and now X 2000 is part of Bombardier, for full closure! Smile
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We'll probably see something similar to RailJet in Austria or Florida East Coast's Brightline project, at least in the short term.
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...you mean JetTrain, the proposal pitched x number of HSR Proposals ago? Smile
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Nope, this one actually worked.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railjet
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Just a regular train though.
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Capable of 140 miles per hour.
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I'm just saying, there are a kajillion trains in the 200-250 km/h range to choose from, that's all.
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Depending on whether we can afford them.
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There should be a bunch of Class 43s available soon. Might be a little too new for VIA, though.
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(05-02-2017, 08:26 PM)kps Wrote: There should be a bunch of Class 43s available soon. Might be a little too new for VIA, though.

That would be nice ... but at 200 km/h only about 25 km/h faster than VIA's current trains.  And the track would still be the big constraint so would probably only shave 5-10 minutes off the Kitchener-Toronto travel time, at best.
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