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Lack of meaningful Passenger Rail service outside the Quebec-Windsor Corridor

Bureaucromancer said:
Wholly off topic, but I don’t buy it. The alleged necessity of anything like strict border controls between Canada and the US has never felt compelling to me, or even particularly persuasive as anything but an opportunity to flex its sovereignty.
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When you travel within the Schengen area you realize how behind are here in that regard, considering how integrated our two economies are.
 
I too recall making several cross border train trips on the strength of nothing more than my high school student ID. A different era, to be sure.

I don't see the pendulum swinging back anytime soon. The non-fantasy border crossings that are being worked on are certainly complicated by current thinking.

But - the processes are definitely improving. Nexus is the best $50 I ever spent, and TSA Pre-check in the US makes air travel much smoother than the immediate Post-911 era.

I would not wax poetic about Eurostar formalties, either...it's not all peaches and cream across the pond.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
I too recall making several cross border train trips on the strength of nothing more than my high school student ID. A different era, to be sure.

I don't see the pendulum swinging back anytime soon. The non-fantasy border crossings that are being worked on are certainly complicated by current thinking.

But - the processes are definitely improving. Nexus is the best $50 I ever spent, and TSA Pre-check in the US makes air travel much smoother than the immediate Post-911 era.

I would not wax poetic about Eurostar formalties, either...it's not all peaches and cream across the pond.

- Paul
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I wonder if there was a way that for Via/Amtrak that on all cross border trains, you required an Nexus Card to ride any part of it.
 
Non of the areas of the EU travel agreement are world superpowers. Our trans-border rules were pretty loose until 9/11 when they became a touch more paranoid, and I can't say I blame them.

An agreement between multiple economies and cultures helps to ensure not one will be completely dominant. With the US being at least 10x us in pretty much every measure I'm quite frankly surprised we've retained our sovereignty as much as we have.
 
lenaitch said:
Non of the areas of the EU travel agreement are world superpowers. Our trans-border rules were pretty loose until 9/11 when they became a touch more paranoid, and I can't say I blame them.

An agreement between multiple economies and cultures helps to ensure not one will be completely dominant. With the US being at least 10x us in pretty much every measure I'm quite frankly surprised we've retained our sovereignty as much as we have.
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I feel one of the bigger reasons is we are usually aligned with the USA in most things. I am not sure if that is by pressure or by nature.
 
Bureaucromancer said:
Wholly off topic, but I don’t buy it. The alleged necessity of anything like strict border controls between Canada and the US has never felt compelling to me, or even particularly persuasive as anything but an opportunity to flex its sovereignty.
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There is a global movement, including Canada (Air Right Touch), to make crossing borders much simpler: no passport or other physical ID required.

Travel Authorizations and biometric data (facial recognition primarily) replace everything else. At an airport you'll enter a gate with a camera that will either let you pass or not, likely at both sides of the trip.

Airlines are pushing it but vehicle borders can work by the same method, with the guard taking a photograph of each person and comparing to the list of people authorized to cross.
 
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Dan416 said:
It's so depressing seeing tracks get torn up as soon as a corridor is disused. These governments have zero foresight. It boggles the mind.
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Many of these corridors may be useful to meet the demands of today. Some of the abandoned rail beds are still intact, while others, including some of the more useful ones are not intact. A good example of that is the old Newmarket Sub through Barrie. If there was ever a demand to extend the GO service to Orillia, it would not be that simple.
I wish the governments made laws that 'rail banked' all abandoned lines such that they could not be built on.
 
Dan416 said:
It's so depressing seeing tracks get torn up as soon as a corridor is disused. These governments have zero foresight. It boggles the mind.
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The most infuriating one is the Toronto North Railway, which would have provided a perfect right of way from Kennedy subway station to STC and Malvern.

Instead we have been fighting over a subway/LRT/SRT thingy for over 30 years at the cost of billions.
 
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