High-Speed Rail (HSR) - Toronto/Pearson/Kitchener/London

[Canard]

Probably because it’s even more fantastically expensive

Please provide data.

and requires absolutely everything to be completely new — no re-use of existing platform facilities where appropriate.

We're talking about building hundreds of kilometres of completely new track and OCS. The very small amount of infra that could be reused (which I doubt is realistically anything at all) is not worth considering. You really think a TGV is going to pull up to Kitchener's 100+ year old station?

Anyway, regular rail can be elevated.

It can be, but it is orders of magnitude more expensive to do so because the guideway cross section is just so, so much bigger.

Anyway, I already know I'll lose this battle and be shot down with every subsequent comment so there's zero point in me even trying to mention any of it.

My dream world from the 80's that I grew up reading books about never happened.