High Speed Rail in Canada

[GreaterMontréal]

Montréal-Quebec City is all flat terrain. Trois-Rivieres or St-Hyacinthe-Drumondville-Victoriaville.

[rbt]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

As for Montreal-Maritimes via Maine, I've always thought that it was a good idea: just run the trains through Maine without stopping anywhere and you have no need for customs or security checks.

Have you gone across the border a few times by train? They often check a lot more than just the passengers, looking under the train and between cars, etc.

At the Niagara border, they're even known to X-Ray the entire train.

The odds of the US government allowing this is extremely low.

[1overcosc]

I don't see why it couldn't be negotiated. Back during the cold war, East Germany provided access routes for West Germany to use to access West Berlin. If **that** could happen, I don't see why a Canadian extraterritorial link through Maine couldn't.

[MalcolmTucker]

A rare work of early post war cooperation. The USA is just in a very weird mood right now. They refuse to even fund their part of a customs plaza for a new bridge near Windsor. No idea who is funding the extra inspections on the Cascades train to Vancouver.

[Mister F]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but VIA Rail's (and CP before it) Atlantic train used to take the route through Maine. It was discontinued in 1994. It's a lot shorter than the Ocean for sure.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Mister F

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but VIA Rail's (and CP before it) Atlantic train used to take the route through Maine. It was discontinued in 1994. It's a lot shorter than the Ocean for sure.

How did the borders work? Did it go non-stop through Maine and thus have no customs checks, or did it stop in Maine and require inspections at stops and/or at the two border crossing points? (I've never understood why trains in NA do inspections at border, it makes no sense).

[Aylmer]

I think it could be negotiated: the US would probably insist that the trains have non-opening windows and locked doors (which they already have). I mean, if you can't throw anything out of the train, there's not really much that can happen short of someone jumping on to a speeding train and holding on long enough to get past the border with no one noticing.

[amor de cosmos]

China's Plan for a Canadian Bullet Train Is News to Canada
Written by Ben Makuch
May 23, 2014 // 04:15 PM CET

Official Chinese media is touting a proposed 13,000 kilometer high-speed railn line connecting mainland China to Russia, Canada, and the US. The only thing is, the project is still a mystery to the Canadian government.

I asked the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade if the “discussions” one Chinese engineer claims are happening between the four nations​ on the proposed next-generation rail system have begun with China. DFAIT media relations spokesperson Claude Rochon was categorical.

“To answer your question, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada is not informed of this project,” said Rochon.

Yet the state-run newspaper Beijing Times reports Chinese officials are already discussing the proposed line, with other transnational lines scheduled to begin contruction in June. The North American line will shoot straight across northern Siberia, into a 200 kilometer undersea tunnel to be dug in the Bering Strait, then link back into Alaska.

The system would then traverse the Canadian west coast into the continental US. The speed of the train is expected to reach 350 kilometers an hour, meaning a trip to the US from China would take two days.

To give you an idea how spectacular an engineering feat this would be, if the proposed Bering Strait tunnel is eventually dug it will be approximately four times longer than the Chunnel connecting France and Britain. Wang Mengshu, a railway engineer at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told the Beijing Times the sophisticated technology required to dig the line into the Bering Strait already exists. Apparently the same equipment will build a similar line from Fujian to Taiwan.

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/re...news-to-canada

[GreatTallNorth2]

Looks like Canada is a lot closer to having high speed rail as Kathleen Wynne is projected to win a majority government!

[Chadillaccc]

YAYYYYY!!

[haljackey]

I didn't want a Liberal majority but if they build this I'll let it slide.

[White Pine]

"Looks like HSR's back on the menu, boys!" *insert orc picture here

[1overcosc]

WOOT! Glad to have played my part to have brought about a Wynne majority, my riding went red when everyone thought it would go blue!

It's a great Wynne for HSR in Canada

Seriously, this HSR project will be great. It will also likely get the ball rolling on HSR in Canada. Toronto-Ottawa, Montreal-QC, Edmonton-Calgary are now that much more likely to be built as well, once its proven that HSR can work here.

[caltrane74]

That god Wynne Majority. Lots of high speed/ electrified rail projects coming down the pipe.

[MolsonExport]

Win for HSR with Wynne.

[mistercorporate]

Yeehawwww...

[haljackey]

Hurra! High-Speed-Rail plan still alive: London & KW Leaders Meet With Ont. Minister of Transportation Over Commuter Rail

http://www.am980.ca/2014/08/18/londo...ion-officials/

[Alegan]

Can't happen soon enough!

[Razor]

That is indeed good news...Now I'm guessing they wouldn't hit Hamilton on it's way through to Mississauga? ..In the grand scheme of things, this would be the perfect phase 1 of the overall Windsor to Quebec City corridor..It's not overly long and has a decent population to draw potential ridership from (2.0 million +/- (not counting the Hammer)..If it came to fruition and is ultra successful, it can bring money in the coffers and can pave the way (pun intended) for future phases that can eventually link up..Jumping ahead, I would think that QC and Montreal can potentially be next..Kinda like book ending the whole rail line..The Quebec government may see how successful this initial run is and jump on board (pun intended)..Just the QC -Montreal- Ottawa portion has almost 7.0 million people to draw from, although I'm still skeptical about how the ridership between Montreal and Ottawa would be. QC to Montreal would be successful for sure...Thinking long term , and with recoup $$ in the feds coffers from fairs, other needed LRT lines in population corridors in Canada can be constructed after this badly needed one is under way...Anyways, I'm Jumping way ahead...Good news!...This particular project I'm jacked about, even though it is still in "pipe dream" stages..Maybe when my wife and I retire, we can find ourselves taking the two hour jaunt to QC on a weekend, or ultimately 6.0 hours to Chicago.. If they were to get something going between D town and Chicago on the American side that is. For that length of a trip though flying would still be the way to go.

[Innsertnamehere]

its along the Georgetown corridor, so it goes through Brampton not Mississauga. It can't hit both Hamilton and Kitchener as there are no lines travelling that route.

Hamilton is in such an awkward spot anyway that they only way they will ever get HSR is if it is on a Toronto - New York HSR line, which will likely never go beyond 200km/h diesel service which is what Amtrak is currently planning on the corridor.