Alberta passenger rail MEGA thread

[ExtraSlow]

Trains are awesome and convenient. No argument from me on either of those points. I've used trains in Europe and Asia and I liked it.

That's not what we are talking about here though.

[g-m]

What do they have to do with coolant though? That's where I got lost. I might have to call BS on no sweaty people on the train in Delhi. Is there still a significant deodorant shortage?

[killramos]

Everything is a good idea as long as you literally make up whatever nonsense you want and back it up with an incoherent wall of text no one else wants to read lol

[sexualbanana]

I think, logistically, a high-speed rail has to be more than just between Calgary and Edmonton (with stops on the way like Red Deer and wherever else). I think to make it work, you'd have to make both cities a hub and have it branch into smaller routes (like normal rail or buses) to other cities in the province.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Edmonton branching off to GP, Fort Mac and other areas up north. Similarly, Calgary branches off to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and CNP. And they can maybe make a loop between Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Edmonton with trains running clockwise and counterclockwise like the old 72 and 73 bus routes.

That's the only way, that I can see, that ridership could be sustainable. But that is going to take an insane amount of capital investment that I doubt the province can afford now lest they consider making even more significant funding cuts in other areas.

[max_boost]

Just let in another million billion people and charge a head tax to pay for it

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This plan is about as feasible as budget airlines trying to make it work in Canada lol

[Misterman]

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What do they have to do with coolant though? That's where I got lost. I might have to call BS on no sweaty people on the train in Delhi. Is there still a significant deodorant shortage?

I'm unaware of a deodorant shortage. But I believe a deodorant user shortage still exists.

[flipstah]

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I think, logistically, a high-speed rail has to be more than just between Calgary and Edmonton (with stops on the way like Red Deer and wherever else). I think to make it work, you'd have to make both cities a hub and have it branch into smaller routes (like normal rail or buses) to other cities in the province.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Edmonton branching off to GP, Fort Mac and other areas up north. Similarly, Calgary branches off to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and CNP. And they can maybe make a loop between Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Edmonton with trains running clockwise and counterclockwise like the old 72 and 73 bus routes.

That's the only way, that I can see, that ridership could be sustainable. But that is going to take an insane amount of capital investment that I doubt the province can afford now lest they consider making even more significant funding cuts in other areas.

This.

All the shift people that live in AB that work in Fort Mac could benefit from this. It would also save costs booking chartered flights as well.

Socially beneficial? Yes
Financially beneficial? Depends if ridership can sustain it

[jutes]

How does high-speed rail function in snowy, -30c weather?

[ThePenIsMightier]

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...
Financially beneficial? Depends if ridership can sustain it

But, no.
Refer to ExtraSlow's math. It's not Marth.
To build 300+km of track and wildlife fence and electrical infrastructure to then only carry passengers a few times a day is BertStare.jpg

It's just clever enough to potato. Period.

[ExtraSlow]

No private operator would finance such a project, so 8t basically has to be government money.

Government has alternatives that cost less and do more.

[Tik-Tok]

I for one look forward to all the mockery we would receive from European and Asian tourists at our pathetic attempt at passenger rail to Banff.

[arcticcat522]

Insert gif. of Simpsons....
Mono rail, mono rail, mono rail...

[Disoblige]

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How does high-speed rail function in snowy, -30c weather?

Have it all underground. Should cost the same

[KrisYYC]

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How does high-speed rail function in snowy, -30c weather?

Just fine, in Japan at least. With Canadian work ethic and ingenuity (/sarcasm) I'd imagine our high speed train would barely operate over the winter.

[bjstare]

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This.

All the shift people that live in AB that work in Fort Mac could benefit from this. It would also save costs booking chartered flights as well.

Socially beneficial? Yes
Financially beneficial? Depends if ridership can sustain it

See my comment above about quadrupling our population and GDP. IF we have 4x the people, and for some wild reason, 4x the workforce required up north (lol, won't happen), that's probably still not enough to justify it.

[flipstah]

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See my comment above about quadrupling our population and GDP. IF we have 4x the people, and for some wild reason, 4x the workforce required up north (lol, won't happen), that's probably still not enough to justify it.

Oh yeah, European population sustains the railway there.

We're too big of a country and not enough folks, agreed.

[sexualbanana]

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I for one look forward to all the mockery we would receive from European and Asian tourists at our pathetic attempt at passenger rail to Banff.

There might be reasonable demand for Banff. Half the reason I don't do more skiing is because I don't want to have to wake up at 5am, drive the 2-ish hours to Louise/Nakiska/Sunshine/whatever, ski for a whole day and then drive 2-ish hours back. That just sounds exhausting.

But the pricing would have to be comparable to the Banff shuttles and I doubt that could be sustainable, especially if we're talking about having to build new infrastructure. Plus, I would worry about the environmental impact because Banff is already pretty busy.

[ExtraSlow]

How woukd a ski day with the train look?

[max_boost]

lol it’s not gonna work but good for those getting paid to conduct the studies

[pheoxs]

I don't really see how Fort Mac would ever make sense. Aside from the fact you'd have to build on all the swamps to get there, there's just nothing there besides the oil sands. It'll never attract any tourism and most of the companies up there are chartering flights anyways. There's just no opportunity to expand things or connect a growing community. Maybe a decade or two ago when we were still building new sites but nowadays there's very little for mega projects up there.

Banff on the other hand would bring more tourism dollars into the province which we need. It would also let the town grow without needing more congestion on the roads or more parking lots. It also has natural steps to future extensions to Lake Loiuse, Golden, Revy, etc. Each segment can be it's own project as the traffic grows and it becomes viable.