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

[Acitta]

Cross-border coalition lays out vision for passenger rail between Ontario, Michigan

A coalition of political leaders from both sides of the border is calling on the Canadian government to make improving passenger rail service in southwestern Ontario a national infrastructure priority, and commit funding in the budget to make it happen.

Part of that would include track improvements, station upgrades, and a joint border security facility to restore passenger service between Detroit and Windsor, something that hasn’t existed in nearly 50 years.

[SammyOES]

Meh.  Let’s build a solid rail network for moving around the region, then the province, and then into Quebec.  Then maybe I’m interested in spending money to make it easier to move back and forth to the States.

“Canada needs to commit millions to build a required Canada Border Services Agency facility at VIA’s Windsor station, a plan it already has in their possession, Dilkens said.”

Geez, how dumb would we have to be to invest in anything like this right now?

[danbrotherston]

Yes, perfect proposal when cross border passenger traffic is down enormously and our neighbour is on and off threatening war.

The thing that is really amazing to me these days is how out of touch a lot of the a lot of American politicians (and Americans are in general). They're like "why are you mean, I mean, I know it's kinda rude, but you're taking a bit too seriously aren't you"? They just do not get how much damage this situation is doing to their reputation among Canadians (and globally as well).

And that's before you remember how Trump has been fucking us (and our Prime Minister seems to be again pursuing appeasement) on the latest cross border crossing improvement.

[KevinL]

Look no further than the Gordie Howe Bridge debacle (in the very same city!) to see why this is terrible timing. I can see an ideal world where this connection is valued and necessary, but that is very far from our current world.

[Acitta]

Look no further than the Gordie Howe Bridge debacle (in the very same city!) to see why this is terrible timing. I can see an ideal world where this connection is valued and necessary, but that is very far from our current world.

I first saw the report about this on CTV, which seemed to emphasize the transportation connections between the smaller communities in Southern Ontario (Stratford, Woodstock, etc.) which have infrequent or no train service to the larger cities. I thought that that was what it was about, rather than the cross border issue, till I saw the CBC report that I posted.

[tomh009]

I first saw the report about this on CTV, which seemed to emphasize the transportation connections between the smaller communities in Southern Ontario (Stratford, Woodstock, etc.) which have infrequent or no train service to the larger cities. I thought that that was what it was about, rather than the cross border issue, till I saw the CBC report that I posted.

And those communities don't need HSR, all they want is RTS (Reasonable Train Service).

We'll see whether this HSR initiative actually goes somewhere, but I would be perfectly happy with a 180-200 km/h train service done properly (fewer level crossings and less track-sharing with freight). Achievable with the new VIA SCV-42 train sets and political will. Even better if electrified.

[MidTowner]

I first saw the report about this on CTV, which seemed to emphasize the transportation connections between the smaller communities in Southern Ontario (Stratford, Woodstock, etc.) which have infrequent or no train service to the larger cities. I thought that that was what it was about, rather than the cross border issue, till I saw the CBC report that I posted.

And those communities don't need HSR, all they want is RTS (Reasonable Train Service).

We'll see whether this HSR initiative actually goes somewhere, but I would be perfectly happy with a 180-200 km/h train service done properly (fewer level crossings and less track-sharing with freight). Achievable with the new VIA SCV-42 train sets and political will. Even better if electrified.

The article that was posted is not in reference to any HSR plan, but in fact to exactly what you are talking about: infrastructure investments that would allow VIA's fleet to operate at speeds closer to their 200km/h maximum.