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If there is a type of project that a federal government should be funding, it would be the ones that has a national level of impact. It is patently ridiculous to say that they should be funding local/regional transit above intra-city rail, as if the events of late haven't suggested the need to act nationally for a change.

AoD
 
sixrings said:
I’ve travelled over seas. Ive seen these trains. But you’re ignoring the fact that in most countries cities are not this far apart. We live in a large country. That is the problem.
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We're taking about the Corridor, not the country as a whole. The cities in the Corridor are as close together as in most countries in Europe. And it has the majority of Canada's population and at least half of the ridings in Parliament.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
If there is a type of project that a federal government should be funding, it would be the ones that has a national level of impact. It is patently ridiculous to say that they should be funding local/regional transit above intra-city rail.

AoD
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Can't resist the trigger and will repeat, Ottawa over-collects revenue for the sole purpose of doling it out for purely political advantage. if Ottawa reduced federal revenue, provinces and cities would have a bigger tax base to enable them to fund projects on their own. But, that would deprive federal pols of photo ops and credit, and would deprive provincial pols of the political theatre of "fighting hard for our fair share for our constituents".

I will bet a good dinner that if we could look behind the scenes, Ottawa is not taxing Fredericton or Red Deer to fund HSR. There is no income redistribution principle at work. It's just theatre. The money will be raised within the Corridor. The provinces could do the taxing, but it plays better if it looks like a gift from Ottawa's bottomless money bucket.

- Paul
 
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crs1026 said:
Can't resist the trigger and will repeat, Ottawa over-collects revenue for the sole purpose of doling it out for purely political advantage. if Ottawa reduced federal revenue, provinces and cities would have a bigger tax base to enable them to fund projects on their own. But, that would deprive federal pols of photo ops and credit, and would deprive provincial pols of the political theatre of "fighting hard for our fair share for our constituents".

I will bet a good dinner that if we could look behind the scenes, Ottawa is not taxing Fredericton or Red Deer to fund HSR. There is no income redistribution principle at work. It's just theatre. The money will be raised within the Corridor.

- Paul
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Don't forget the last time it had happened (GST reduction) didn't stop the provinces from still asking the Feds for money.

AoD
 
As a millennial borderline Gen Z, first time wading into this discussion. Several observations:

1. The discussions on this forum are way more informative than most media coverage I’ve watched/read regarding this project. CBC/CTV/Global - do a better job. Most of these news reports don’t even seem to get the concept of an RFP and how it fits into big project like HSR/Alto.

2. People to be fixated on the speed, travel time, and project cost, but I haven’t seen much discussion on how this project will arguably transform the housing situation of 20+ million Canadians for the next century. Specifically, how an HSR can open up a whole range of housing possibilities in smaller towns and cities, instead of everyone being crammed into the vicinity of TO and Montreal. With places like Trois-Rivières and Quebec City within 1-1.5 hrs reach from Montreal, you can bet that a lot of people my age, and people who starting families soon will now seriously consider moving to those cities even if their work is in Montreal. Being able to reach Montreal from Quebec City in 1.5 hrs is a huge deal, and makes it completely possible to work in a big city and live and raise a family in a smaller city. I live in Montreal right now, and I bet HSR will be transformational to a small backwater like Trois-Rivières, and will also help alleviate housing pressures in the greater Montreal area. The same dynamic will play out in the GTA and help alleviate the housing situation there.

Hence, I think HSR conversation should be intrinsically tied to the housing crisis we have in this country, and HSR should be put front and centre as one of the solutions to expand housing availability and affordability.
 
SFO-YYZ said:
Hence, I think HSR conversation should be intrinsically tied to the housing crisis we have in this country, and HSR should be put front and centre as one of the solutions to expand housing availability and affordability.
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Except that a service that only stops in the largest cities, and only in a few select locations that are already the densest zones in those cities, will not create an incentive for housing.
HSR is a high volume solution for high volume travel needs, but the first/last mile impacts do not encourage housing construction.

This is why there must be equal investment in regional and local networks, hopefully that connect with HSR. The housing growth you are advocating for will not happen thru HSR itself HSR may stimulate job creation along its stops, but each stop has to build communities to house people, and that job creation and housing construction has to happen further from the HSR tracks and in places where HSR does not stop..

- Paul
 
SFO-YYZ said:
As a millennial borderline Gen Z, first time wading into this discussion. Several observations:

1. The discussions on this forum are way more informative than most media coverage I’ve watched/read regarding this project. CBC/CTV/Global - do a better job. Most of these news reports don’t even seem to get the concept of an RFP and how it fits into big project like HSR/Alto.
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Agreed. Seeing the media coverage on this, you would think Trudeau woke up the day before the announcement and cooked this project up to help his party in the coming election.
 
crs1026 said:
Except that a service that only stops in the largest cities, and only in a few select locations that are already the densest zones in those cities, will not create an incentive for housing.
HSR is a high volume solution for high volume travel needs, but the first/last mile impacts do not encourage housing construction.

This is why there must be equal investment in regional and local networks, hopefully that connect with HSR. The housing growth you are advocating for will not happen thru HSR itself HSR may stimulate job creation along its stops, but each stop has to build communities to house people, and that job creation and housing construction has to happen further from the HSR tracks and in places where HSR does not stop..

- Paul
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The rail technology that opens up housing is more the GO Expansion-style regional electrified rail that is 2WAD and frequent. That is what makes the Randstad work as a metropolitan region of smaller centres.
 
Somewhat related article on Windsor-Detroit connection, that dreams of a hypothetical HSR extension. Excerpt:

On Friday, MDOT confirmed that discussions are ongoing.
“As of now, we continue to meet with various governmental agencies and community partners on both sides of the border to talk about the potential of the cross-border project and we look forward to advancing the project discussions as the Corridor ID process moves forward,” according to Michael Frezell, an MDOT spokesman, referencing a federal rail planning and development program. “We also continue to work with community partners to explore a new multimodal facility in Detroit, following the study that we completed at the Detroit New Center Intermodal Facility.”
 
enter username said:
Somewhat related article on Windsor-Detroit connection, that dreams of a hypothetical HSR extension. Excerpt:

On Friday, MDOT confirmed that discussions are ongoing.
“As of now, we continue to meet with various governmental agencies and community partners on both sides of the border to talk about the potential of the cross-border project and we look forward to advancing the project discussions as the Corridor ID process moves forward,” according to Michael Frezell, an MDOT spokesman, referencing a federal rail planning and development program. “We also continue to work with community partners to explore a new multimodal facility in Detroit, following the study that we completed at the Detroit New Center Intermodal Facility.”
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Extend to Chicago!
 
What are the chances one of the consortiums who missed out on Toronto-Quebec HSR gets in Doug Ford's ear and starts lobbying Ontario to commence a Toronto-Detroit HxR line?
 
guavadelic said:
What are the chances one of the consortiums who missed out on Toronto-Quebec HSR gets in Doug Ford's ear and starts lobbying Ontario to commence a Toronto-Detroit HxR line?
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Best case scenerio is honestly he uses the Missing Link to free up capacity for an HFR type thing to London. I don't see anything beyond that happening, at least not this term.
 
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