Now you are starting to make sense.
You are dreaming about an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars (billions even) to support services that pull in much smaller amounts of revenue and require operating subsidies as well as capital for equipment. And attract very small absolute numbers of riders.
Even our governments don't work that way.
- Paul
When the Northlander was cancelled in 2012, most people just accepted that it will never return.
An investment of $75 million from the province of ON will be spent to return it roughly 14 years after it was shut down. Right there is almost $100 million...That is just 1 line. The government does work that way.
The return of the Northlander was a pipe dream when it shut down.It still kinda is as it is not yet running.
Other pipe dreams are extending GO services up the Bala sub. However, with the cost of housing, people will move further north and they will demand the government transport them.
Via will be replacing its long distance fleet.When that happens, who really knows if it will also include enough rolling stock to expand existing service or add new services. Before that happens, maybe they decide to replace the RDCs with the HEP cars. Maybe they decide to start the service in Toronto instead of Sudbury to make maintenance easier and to potentially capitalize on possible ridership..
And then there is the question of what could happen if the largest city in Northern ON puts pressure on the province to provide rail transportation to it.Remember, people have said that 4 buses a day is the maximum they want to run before a train service is viable on leased lines. If a 4th bus gets added to the schedule, then maybe they will look at a train.
Will it happen? Who knows.
Is it possible?Yes. The Northlander returning proves the possibility of it.All that is left is the political climate for it.
Maybe we should rename this thread into „100 passenger rail services Micheal from Sudbury wants to see restored before he moves to Mars (and dreams about intergalactic railways)“…?
I don't think I have 100 different services that I'd like to see restored. But, talking about the challenges of bringing them back, and the challenges on existing infrastructure if they come back is a good thing, right? In the past 7 years on this forum,I have learned a lot about the challenges of bringing anything back.
