Excellent read. I am curious if you've considered whether there is a plausible future for VIA as a competitor for US air travel. For certain corridors (Toronto to Detroit/Chicago, Toronto to NYC, Vancouver to Seattle/Portland) the rail wouldn't even have to be particularly fast in order for travel times to beat out the hassle of air travel. Given the shift in public opinion in both the US and Canada towards favoring rail infrastructure, these projects don't seem as politically unfeasible as they once might have. If we allow control of most VIA rail passageways to be shifted over to the provinces and adapted into their regional systems, then perhaps the purpose of VIA could become one of very specific inter-province and international trips?
Some partnering with the provinces needs to occur, like some US states funding Amtrak services, or more coordination between provincial commuter rail systems and VIA Rail, such as the provision of more frequent GO trains on the Toronto-London corridor, while keep one VIA train per day. However, as VIA is faster and more comfortable, there should operate more runs on this segment - with more frequent VIA & GO service, it should take some driving mode share, as the 401 highway gets increasingly congested and unreliable.
Excellent read. I am curious if you've considered whether there is a plausible future for VIA as a competitor for US air travel. For certain corridors (Toronto to Detroit/Chicago, Toronto to NYC, Vancouver to Seattle/Portland) the rail wouldn't even have to be particularly fast in order for travel times to beat out the hassle of air travel. Given the shift in public opinion in both the US and Canada towards favoring rail infrastructure, these projects don't seem as politically unfeasible as they once might have. If we allow control of most VIA rail passageways to be shifted over to the provinces and adapted into their regional systems, then perhaps the purpose of VIA could become one of very specific inter-province and international trips?
Some partnering with the provinces needs to occur, like some US states funding Amtrak services, or more coordination between provincial commuter rail systems and VIA Rail, such as the provision of more frequent GO trains on the Toronto-London corridor, while keep one VIA train per day. However, as VIA is faster and more comfortable, there should operate more runs on this segment - with more frequent VIA & GO service, it should take some driving mode share, as the 401 highway gets increasingly congested and unreliable.