High Speed Rail between Toronto and London by 2025

[bill937ca]

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne today announced a plan for high speed rail between Toronto and London, Ontario with stops at Pearson Airport, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, and London. First phase is an environmental assessment which will take four years and cost $15 million.

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/wynne-ontario-high-speed-rail-report-1.4123183

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/high-speed-rail-in-ontario-finally-not-so-fast-1.4123920

 

High Speed Rail report  http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/publications/high-speed-rail-in-ontario-final-report/

Edited May 20, 2017 by bill937ca

[keiichi77]

I would love to see this happen, it makes sense in the Toronto Windsor corridor but unfortunately Canada is behind the rest of the modern world when it comes to railways.  There is almost no political will in this country to invest large sums of money in upgrading existing rail lines let alone build new higher speed ones. :(

[kvp]

These are relatively small towns with high amounts of suburbian areas with not much local transit and relatively low amount of intercity commuters. Those who commute usually have to do it by car as going to and from the station would take longer than going to the destination directly by car. This is one case where a new high speed rail line doesn't seem useful and getting a few faster interregional trains might be the max. of what is viable.

[railsquid]

It'll be a bit of a job to tunnel under the Atlantic... Oh, not *the* London ;)

[serotta1972]

It'll be a bit of a job to tunnel under the Atlantic... Oh, not *the* London ;)

 

I had the same initial reaction - tunnel or bridge over the Atlantic. :)

[Nick_Burman]

These are relatively small towns with high amounts of suburbian areas with not much local transit and relatively low amount of intercity commuters. Those who commute usually have to do it by car as going to and from the station would take longer than going to the destination directly by car. This is one case where a new high speed rail line doesn't seem useful and getting a few faster interregional trains might be the max. of what is viable.

 

The case for a "ausbaustrecke" rebuilding of existing lines instead of building a full-blown high-speed railway.

 

Cheers NB

[Pashina12]

Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa/Montreal will make sense, over the longer term. There's only two others in Canada that can/do make sense - Edmonton-Calgary, and Vancouver-Seattle-Portland (and on southwards perhaps?), which are both also being discussed.

[trainsforever8]

I can only hope that they will actually build it. We don't have any high speed rail in Canada and VIA Rail's service could be much better than what it currently is..

[Socimi]

The case for a "ausbaustrecke" rebuilding of existing lines instead of building a full-blown high-speed railway.

 

In the meantime just buy a good med/hi-speed (possibly tilting) multiple unit, following the example of the australian XPT and our italian ET450 "Pendolino".

[Davo Dentetsu]

In the meantime just buy a good med/hi-speed (possibly tilting) multiple unit, following the example of the australian XPT and our italian ET450 "Pendolino".

Let's not follow the example of the XPT, it's a bit of a shambles

[railsquid]

Let's not follow the example of the XPT, it's a bit of a shambles

 

Instead follow the British example of electrifying Brunel's Great Western Main Line (last bastion of the HSTs, from which the XPT derives), which is a total shambles partly due to important historical records being destroyed when the route was privatised, meaning you end up purchasing expensive bi-modal diesel/AC-electric trains from Japan because the electrification won't be finished in the foreseeable future so you need the diesels to bridge the gap, except they're nowhere near powerful enough to match the original timing of the HSTs on the hilly bits where the wires won't reach. Apparently.

[Nick_Burman]

In the meantime just buy a good med/hi-speed (possibly tilting) multiple unit, following the example of the australian XPT and our italian ET450 "Pendolino".

 

Yes...but the need for an "ausbaustrecke" rebuild would still remain. Several years ago I rode VIA Montreal - Quebec and back. The train was composed of a Bombardier diesel (noisy beasts!) + tilting coaches. Where possible the train really flew...however in many sections the train had to be kept down due to the sheer number of crossings, we literally blared "Q" all the way from the outskirts of Montreal to Quebec City. Were VIA to remove the crossings and improve track and signalling they could lop off quite a few minutes off the run...

 

Cheers NB

[Davo Dentetsu]

Instead follow the British example of electrifying Brunel's Great Western Main Line (last bastion of the HSTs, from which the XPT derives), which is a total shambles partly due to important historical records being destroyed when the route was privatised, meaning you end up purchasing expensive bi-modal diesel/AC-electric trains from Japan because the electrification won't be finished in the foreseeable future so you need the diesels to bridge the gap, except they're nowhere near powerful enough to match the original timing of the HSTs on the hilly bits where the wires won't reach. Apparently.

At least it's not negated by poor speed limits and reliability, which is kind of the game in the high speed world.  That's where the XPT fails big time.

[dabsan]

Instead follow the British example of electrifying Brunel's Great Western Main Line (last bastion of the HSTs, from which the XPT derives), which is a total shambles partly due to important historical records being destroyed when the route was privatised, meaning you end up purchasing expensive bi-modal diesel/AC-electric trains from Japan because the electrification won't be finished in the foreseeable future so you need the diesels to bridge the gap, except they're nowhere near powerful enough to match the original timing of the HSTs on the hilly bits where the wires won't reach. Apparently.

Not exactly the last bastion of the HSTs, they are used on the Midland Main Line too (East Midlands Trains) from the Midlands to London St Pancras International. :)

[Davo Dentetsu]

Not exactly the last bastion of the HSTs, they are used on the Midland Main Line too (East Midlands Trains) from the Midlands to London St Pancras International. :)

 

Ooh, plus ScotRail get some for the first time ever shortly.  How exciting for them! :D