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Exactly. Not too mention once the GTAA and all parties also invest their portion in starting up Blue 22 they are going to be unlikely to want to put anymore money into a new station and service at Pearson. Rail service to Pearson should be done right from the start. There is nothing wrong...

I agree. Both can exist together. There is nothing wrong with offering a service that caters only too business people and tourists. And if it takes a bit of taxpayer money to give them their own platform at Union and Pearson so they don't have to mix with everyone else or too persuade them not...

But that is the point. The options on the table are bad options. None of them should be picked. Blue 22 was not a well thought out plan by a transportation agency. It was a whim of a federal government who decided it would be good for business and votes and give a few companies a chance to make...

Just because it is better than what exists now does not in itself mean that it should be built. The best option is close to what RedRocket191 said, offer a wide variety of service, from local commuter options on GO in both the Union and Kitchener directions, to express/premium Union-Pearson...

I've never seen the problem being with a premium Pearson-Union to service. But if SNC-Lavalin wants to operate such a service it should do so without taxpayer funding, without the provinces help in creating a monopoly on railway access, and in an operating environment where GO or VIA or the TTC...

Check out their 'The Climate is right for Trains' website. I would be surprised if Bombardier just happened to 'luck out' in terms of timing. They seem to be making a very calculated move towards ramping up transit and train sales and putting themselves in a very good position to capitalize on...

The one issue I have surrounding talking about service levels is that when there is nothing remotely close to regular, non-commuter service it is really hard to say with any certainty what demand will bring in a reality. It might be the case that some areas of the GTA can support commuter...

If all of the above ideas for serving Pearson also included 'temporary', 'inadequate but necessary in the meantime', or another phrase like that I would not have a problem with these ideas. But there is only one way to properly serve Pearson and that is a proper station on site, integrated into...

Well said Hipster. Despite the better climate for transit that has emerged in the past few years, there are still some aspects of it that have a long way to go, and you just very nicely expressed one of the most important ones. Downtown is important, a lot of people live there and commute...

I have to disagree about the importance of convenience, ease of use, etc. The car and air travel became popular in large because of the factors. With the automobile it was the freedom and speed of travel it offered people. With air travel long distances no longer became one or two day long trips...

Well said afransen. The notion that rising energy prices are going to cause everything to collapse is a little annoying at times. Yes, rising energy prices are going to change how people and goods are transported, it will make it more expensive, and it will mean that some industries, such as...

No, it doesn't have to be Bombardier, but they do work with Alsthom on high speed trains so there is a good chance it would be them in some form or another. And not TGV would be essentially what we have now, which is not adequate, which is why we are discussing TGV in the first place. Choosing...

I am hoping to speak with someone from Bombardier this week about high speed rail in Canada to find out where they stand in terms of a TGV Canada project and if they intend to throw their weight behind a proposal. In the meantime I also plan on sending the occasional letter to MPs and MPP's...

Short answer is that cars still rule. At the end of the day North America is still a car oriented society and a shift away from this will not be easy. Of course there are other reasons that also play into this. Transit still doesn't have the same mega support from media, corporations, and the...

As soon as I saw that map the first thing that popped into my head was 'What a great way to get high speed trains off of Lakeshore and onto their own line.' A dedicated HS line could basically follow the first (western most) 401/407 link and then follow a path that basically runs parallel to the...

^Actually now I know why I like the name. Compared to any other name I have heard such as VIA Express, VIA Rapid, VIA-ICE, Lynx, BlackCat (this one I may have made up in my head but I seem to recall it used somewhere) TGV Canada is the one which really suits the big and bold nature of the...

I am a bit surprised they haven't tried again given that it seems an ideal time to float the idea again. Though there is that part of me that always thinks of the Lynx Proposal and what a scam it really was, something Blue 22 tried to emulate years later. Not that Bombardier throwing it's weight...

There is no doubt that this is something that has to be changed to make a system work. But I don't really see it as much of a problem. If Metrolinx is serious about its proposals for REX in the GTA, and to a much smaller degree Montreal and its plans for a Trudeau-Central Station shuttle, the...

dowlingm and MisterF both make good points. Yes, you can find ways to help improve the efficiency of the current network. Be it headways, tackling common bottlenecks with extra track, or upgrading some of the more important lines. But as was also pointed out there is only so much you can do...

Writing about missed opportunities in the alternate transit history thread made me think about what is taking place today and if one of those moments where thinking big could really, really pay off. So before I say much else here are a few links. The first is for 'The Hydrogen Train', a...