[roe_]

Quebec City is bigger than London or Hamilton and while not many from Toronto will go that far, there is a lot of traffic between Montreal and Quebec City.

A southern extension to London, or Windsor/Detroit makes sense in the future, but I couldn't see Hamilton with its close proximity to Toronto and the area already being so built up working well for this.

Another factor may have been the right-of-way, which may have been cheaper to upgrade between Montreal and Quebec City than Toronto and Windsor. Not everything is a conspiracy.

 

[David A]

Another factor may have been the right-of-way, which may have been cheaper to upgrade between Montreal and Quebec City than Toronto and Windsor. Not everything is a conspiracy.

It has been quite a while since I traveled from Montreal to Quebec City and it may depend on the route, but I also don't recall the terrain is very difficult.

 

[BrettB]

Very flat on the South Shore ( but you have to cross the St. Lawrence twice. More mountainous on the North Shore

 

[Tropical]

There is no justification to run the train to Quebec City. This will add unnecessary costs to phases of planning and design rendering the whole thing unviable

That's absurd. Of course a metro of just under a million can bookend a line like this.

 

[Tropical]

Maybe there's some reason why it's actually quite practical, but I'm surprised by the decision to include a stop in Laval, which is already reached by the Montreal metro, STM buses (including the Pie-IX BRT route), and (soon) the REM, with reasonably easy transfers onto its own internal transit system.

The size of the municipality warrants this. I assure you that if Oshawa also lied along the route that we'd see a stop there.

 

[archited]

Maintaining a liberal PQ is a big motivating factor I am sure.

 

[Glenco]

The size of the municipality warrants this. I assure you that if Oshawa also lied along the route that we'd see a stop there.

So by adding stops along the way the time advantage of taking HSR diminishes to the point where it is a disadvantage

 

[David A]

That's absurd. Of course a metro of just under a million can bookend a line like this.

There seems to be some general suspicion of Quebec in Alberta, but lets not forget the province has around 9 million people and the area this high speed rail will serve has around 18 million.

So,it probably has the population density to support this. While Montreal is by far the bigger city, a lot of the rest of the population is between Montreal and Quebec City.

 

[constance_chlore]

I think it makes sense to have high-speed rail to Trois-Rivières and the VdQ, but I do find it a little curious that they were prioritized over southern Ontario. I'm not a train nerd, so for all I know it could be completely justified based on practical constraints or the touristic appeal of Québec, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was intended in part as a nation-unifying force, especially now that the PQ is likely to sail into victory in the next provincial election and the r-word is back in the discourse.

So by adding stops along the way the time advantage of taking HSR diminishes to the point where it is a disadvantage

Yeah, this is why I was surprised. Like, if it's extended further south, would it stop in Mississauga? Maybe the train couldn't accelerate very much anyway in those built-up areas, so maybe it's not so much of a drag (again, not a train nerd), but these suburbs, however large, are fairly accessible from the main cities and I'm not sure how much HSR access would add.

 

[Platinum107]

View attachment 632239So by adding stops along the way the time advantage of taking HSR diminishes to the point where it is a disadvantage

That's why you have local and express services (At least I hope).

The move to go to Quebec City instead of Winsdor/the U.S. border is a mixture of both practicality and politics imo. Quebec City isn't some tiny place, it's like the 7th or 8th largest metro in Canada and a popular tourist destination, but I must've made more sense from a business case standpoint to go further south in the initial project. Oh well, maybe in a future phase.

 

[David A]

That's why you have local and express services (At least I hope).

The move to go to Quebec City instead of Winsdor/the U.S. border is a mixture of both practicality and politics imo. Quebec City isn't some tiny place, it's like the 7th or 8th largest metro in Canada and a popular tourist destination, but I must've made more sense from a business case standpoint to go further south in the initial project. Oh well, maybe in a future phase.

Yes, a mix of local and express services would make sense. I don't know the numbers, but suspect the travel between Montreal and Quebec City is significant and not just tourists. I think the distance is comparable with Edmonton to Calgary. I expect people in Quebec do travel between cities, like elsewhere.

Southern Ontario does probably have a larger population, but not all of it would be along a Toronto to Windsor route. Going to Mississauga would be good, so people going there or south west would not have to transfer to another line downtown and it also makes it easier for an eventual extension south west.

 

[Gronk!]

Will this Toronto HSR include stops at YYZ and downtown near Yonge St? Commuters between the airport and downtown would kill for that!

 

[buildings]

I dont see HSR being used as a commuter train. YYZ is well serviced with local transportation.

 

[The_Cat]

There are many other trains (like GO or Metrolinx) that can fulfill the need. Perhaps the best stop could be at the end of the GO line, something like Montreal.

 

[degrandprix]

They also already have the UP express that goes directly between YYZ and Union station