Oh what I’d do to have a nice and efficient train from Montreal to Vancouver. I’d take it instead of the plane for sure!
Unfortunately the fastest passenger train currently available on the planet would still take roughly 6 hours to get from Montreal to Vancouver in basically a straight line so probably double or even triple that for a more realistic number with all the corners and ups and downs. We probably won’t be making the fastest train on earth so it would likely still be a 20+ ride from Montreal to Vancouver in the best case scenario.
I don’t mind if it takes the same amount of time as it does now. I just want it updated and I want a line where I don’t have to change trains in Toronto.
Isn’t it a lack of rails that’s the problem, not a lack of rail cars? Passenger trains have to give way to cargo trains, and dedicated tracks are the solution.
It’s just as much who owns the rails. In Vancouver we have a commuter rail service that runs on lines owned by the freight companies. So sometimes people have to watch as they wait in a siding while stuff goes by first.
I think freight priority over passenger is the perfect analogy for where we find ourselves today; the systems are wholly subservient to capital
Ideally this is just one of several rail related initiatives and we have more announcements coming.
Hopefully we’ll start prioritizing Passenger Cars over freight like the rest of the world
We will be building a new high speed rail from Quebec to Toronto so passenger rail will finally be separate from freight rail. Finally drag our asses out of the 1800’s.
The amount of money planned for that could probably cover twinning a much larger amount of existing track, with less environmental impact.
Why just twin the line and still have something designed in the 1800’s. Canadians are so damn cheap to do anything properly.
