Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
Agreed, make it easier to get around within the cities and if the populations get to a level where a high speed rail line could be of benefit than it's maybe worth pursuing. But in countries like France, Germany, and Japan where high speed rail is used, the populations of the centers are substantially higher that Calgary and Edmonton.
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I was just in Japan, and was on trains for pretty much two straight months. And here's the synopsis:
120 million people crammed into a country the size of Alberta. You have a (relatively) wealthy country, huge tax base, and over 30 private companies offering competitive rates sharing lines, including four Shinkansen lines / JR Group companies.
While a train is a nice luxury in Alberta, we are nowhere NEAR what we need as a population to sustain a cheap, effective and efficient train system. Not by a long shot.
Unless this thing runs on solar power or something like a low-cost hydrogen-cell engine, this line will not be successful, even though we would love to see it happen.