Alberta passenger rail MEGA thread

[pheoxs]

Seems there wasn't a thread about trains here yet.

Alberta’s vision for passenger rail | alberta.ca

New update from the province about seeking a long term plan for growing rail networks in Alberta.

The government’s vision is for an Alberta passenger rail system that includes public, private or hybrid passenger rail, including:

• a commuter rail system for the Calgary area that connects surrounding communities and the Calgary International Airport to downtown;
• a commuter rail system for the Edmonton area that connects surrounding communities and the Edmonton International Airport to downtown;
• regional rail lines from Calgary and Edmonton to the Rocky Mountain parks;
• a regional rail line between Calgary and Edmonton, with a local transit hub in Red Deer;
• municipal-led LRT systems in Calgary and Edmonton that integrate with the provincial passenger rail system; and
• rail hubs serving the major cities that would provide linkages between a commuter rail system, regional rail routes and municipal-led mass transit systems.

Following this process, a Request for Proposal will be issued to select a consultant to develop the Passenger Rail Master Plan. The Master Plan is expected to be completed by summer 2025.

Feels like this is the dozenth time we'll have more studies about trains going to Banff but maybe this is the one that'll actually start to move forward.

[msommers]

One can dream

[bjstare]

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One can dream

Of what?

If it goes ahead, are you expecting it to be anything other than an absolute boondoggle that ends up being a bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars with basically an infinite payback period?

Until we quadruple our population and provincial GDP, we shouldn't even think about shit like this.

[Tik-Tok]

Man, I really need to become a "consultant". Those guys make bank on vaporware (or whatever the infrastructure equivalent to vaporware is).

[ExtraSlow]

The dude who owns the banff train station is behind ALL the talk of banff passenger rail. He's made massive investments to drum up support for this. There doesn't seem to be anyone other than that dude and his paid consultants who give a rats ass about banff trains.

You could buy a fleet of 20 busses, and run then 24/7 for FREE and still spend less than subsidizing this rail to banff fuckshow.

EDIT: I also think this is true for calgary-edmonton trains. Although you'd need a fleet of 50 busses, which isn't that difficult actually.

[Misterman]

I'm not opposed to robust public transportation, Alberta is wildly behind the times as far as rail service goes. But I am vehemently opposed to paying for it as a tax payer in what appears to be the most bureaucratic financial blackhole of a country on planet earth.

It's hard to believe that Edmonton has no connection to it's airport whatsoever. But then again, the fact they built it 30km away from the city is a bit hard to believe too.

[Buster]

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I'm not opposed to robust public transportation, Alberta is wildly behind the times as far as rail service goes. But I am vehemently opposed to paying for it as a tax payer in what appears to be the most bureaucratic financial blackhole of a country on planet earth.

It's hard to believe that Edmonton has no connection to it's airport whatsoever. But then again, the fact they built it 30km away from the city is a bit hard to believe too.

It's like the Winnipeg ring road. Comically optimistic.

- - - Updated - - -

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Seems there wasn't a thread about trains here yet.

Alberta’s vision for passenger rail | alberta.ca

New update from the province about seeking a long term plan for growing rail networks in Alberta.

[/LIST]



Feels like this is the dozenth time we'll have more studies about trains going to Banff but maybe this is the one that'll actually start to move forward.

Who gave '10s the megathread authority?

[Swank]

If LA and Vegas are just getting started on theirs then we won't see one here in our lifetime - https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/n...-to-las-vegas/

[mr2mike]

Should have started taxing away the tourists back in the 80s for this.

[ExtraSlow]

You could spend a billion dollars building bus stations, and a billion dollars on busses, and a hundred grand a day on operating it, and you'd be money ahead compared to rail for A THOUSAND YEARS.

I defy anyone to come up with any scenario where rail makes any economic sense.

[msommers]

Get the Feds to pay for it because of its intention and path for the National Park. ON/QC would be livid.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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You could spend a billion dollars building bus stations, and a billion dollars on busses, and a hundred grand a day on operating it, and you'd be money ahead compared to rail for A THOUSAND YEARS.

I defy anyone to come up with any scenario where rail makes any economic sense.

Ok, Boomer. All it takes is great coffee, great music.

[ExtraSlow]

And this comes from a guy who fucking loves trains. So keep that in mind. I really and truly love trains.

[killramos]

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Get the Feds to pay for it because of its intention and path for the National Park. ON/QC would be livid.

Liberal marth at its best

Fuck building more glorified cattle carriers.

Let the third world countries be third world

[Tik-Tok]

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I really and truly love trains.

Locomotives, or running trains?

[ExtraSlow]

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Locomotives, or running trains?

[jutes]

Time to bring back the Edmonton-Calgary-Regina-Saskatoon high speed rail idea. Hell connect Winnipeg with Regina too! The future is now

[pheoxs]

I'm presuming they'll end up just piggybacking on our existing lines for the connection to the parks. Via rail already runs Edmonton - Jasper so I'm guessing this project would just be some stations and small connections for that. I can't see AB actually funding highspeed rail for the legs to the parks. But a dedicated railway for a high speed corridor from Calgary - Red Deer Edmonton might make economical sense with how quick the province is growing.

The population might not be there yet but AB will hit 5 mill people next year and 6 mill around ~2032 at current rates. Probably ends up being a lot cheaper to build it sooner rather than later with the cost of everything going up endlessly.

[Xtrema]

Until we tackle public drug use and the riff rafts, we are just spending billions on mobile homeless shelters.

[ExtraSlow]

Existing tracks cannot handle any high speed rail. Basically have to build new parallel tracks