Calgary to Edmonton High Speed train

[Neil4Speed]

Hey guys,

I have been hearing about a plan to implement a High Speed train from Calgary to Edmonton (something like the eurostar in europe). I think it would be a great idea, the plan is for it to be able to do the trip faster than a plane without all the hastle.

Any thoughs on this?! I havn't heard to much but it should be interesting what you guys have to say about it.

I think its a great idea, since I am sure there are tonnes of people that do that route on a daily basis, whether it would be economically viable is another matter.

Sounds very neat though.

[Idratherbsidewayz]

I like the idea, however its completely unnecessary and kind of a waste of money. Red Arrow has a very decent bus route that goes calgary to edmonton, or you can just drive 2-3 hours...

[wildrice]

hm....well, it'd probably pretty expensive
and this would probably take quite a while to build
but yea, not a bad idea

[Team_Mclaren]

i think its stupid.. how much would that cost to build??? and like if u wanna get there without driving, you can always take te plane, its not that expensive anyway

[rage2]

It's only Ponoka that's annoying because of the cops. They should increase the speed limit to 160km/h and everyone will happily drive that route.

[GTS Jeff]

it depends on who's paying. if the government paid, im sure thered be lots of opposition to it, but once its in, itd be sweet. hour long train ride for $50 or so.

if this was a private venture, the price would likely be double or triple the cost and not enough people would take it to justify the cost of building it in the first place.

[Khyron]

The other problem is both Calgary and Edmonton have huge sprawl, unlike New York or any European cities. Once you got to the other city, you'd have brutal cab fares pretty much everywhere - at least that's why most people I know drive there instead of using the bus/plane.

Khyron

[grocko]

It would be a great idea in my opinion, but the cost to do it would be so great that it'll probably never happen. Would be kind of neat though to see some kind of bullet trains connect with other cities in the country. (A Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winepeg route could do quite well....) 250km/h in a train, I would love to be in one of those.....

[cman]

the drive isnt that bad, you just have to know where the speed traps are. been doing the route for about 6 years now, almost never at 110 km/h

a train would be a great alternative, but the price would be enormous.

and yes fast trains are pretty cool to ride in

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren
i think its stupid.. how much would that cost to build??? and like if u wanna get there without driving, you can always take te plane, its not that expensive anyway

When I checked out plane fares to Edmonton, cheapest was Westjet, it was $70 for early morning flights and $160 for daytime and evening flights.

So to go back and forth it would cost at least $140 plus GST, plus cab fare because Edmonton Airport is in Ponoka.

Don't know how much it would cost for a high speed train, but the price would have to compete with that.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by cman
the drive isnt that bad, you just have to know where the speed traps are.

where?

[grocko]

Edmonton Int'l in Ponoka? I think it's more around the Nisku area...

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by grocko
Edmonton Int'l in Ponoka? I think it's more around the Nisku area...

Right. Oops.

[Alpine Autowerks]

Originally posted by cman
the drive isnt that bad

It made Road & Track's 10 worst highways list a few years back with the Red Deer to Edmonchuck section geting special mention.

[KELSTAR]

Originally posted by sexualbanana


When I checked out plane fares to Edmonton, cheapest was Westjet, it was $70 for early morning flights and $160 for daytime and evening flights.

So to go back and forth it would cost at least $140 plus GST, plus cab fare because Edmonton Airport is in Ponoka.

Don't know how much it would cost for a high speed train, but the price would have to compete with that.

Don't forget all the airport taxes and stuff they add

[JustinL]

It would be technically difficult to build a highspeed train in Alberta because of the huge temperature variations that we get. You would need some way to keep the tracks straight and level through all of the seasons... hitting a wobble at 250kph might be exciting.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by JustinL
It would be technically difficult to build a highspeed train in Alberta because of the huge temperature variations that we get. You would need some way to keep the tracks straight and level through all of the seasons... hitting a wobble at 250kph might be exciting.

Exciting sure would be the word haha

[grocko]

They could do that new setup like they're trying to do over in Germany with the magnets....I think they use electro-magnets to lift the train up to have little/no friction and then have some sort of engine propel it forward. It was on Discovery a while back and it looks really sweet!

[FroggerDude]

Originally posted by grocko
They could do that new setup like they're trying to do over in Germany with the magnets....I think they use electro-magnets to lift the train up to have little/no friction and then have some sort of engine propel it forward. It was on Discovery a while back and it looks really sweet!

yah i've seen that on Discovery too. its awesome, that one had a top speed of 527km/h i think

[three.eighteen.]

it would be sweet cus i could train it up to e-town, get wasted with my buddies and take a ride home in the same night