Quote:
Originally Posted by McG
while i can't comment on the situation in china, i don't agree with the statement that high speed rail wouldn't work in alberta.
in the company that i work for alone, we spend so much time and money going between calgary and edmonton that a downtown station in each city would change travel for us. i have to believe it is the same for many other companies as well.
if there was any way that i could cut down on the 3 hour commute between each city, that is 6 to 7 hours to do a day trip, i would seriously look at it.
now, whether or not the infrastructure could ever be put in place...that is a different conversation altogether. just because some guy in another country managed to swindle money shouldn't be a determining factor in whether or not a high speed rail link would work in Alberta.
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Highspeed rail might work in Alberta, at least once Edmonton and Calgary are pushing 2.5-3 million people each. Until then it's a multi billion dollar pipe dream destined to lose money hand over fist.
Look at Amtrak down in the states. It loses over a billion dollars per year and of the 44 routes it operates, only 3 turn a profit.
Further more they're working in corridors with significantly higher populations, where traffic congestion is a significant disadvantage to car travel compared to Alberta.
If you think you're gonna save much time over driving, you're not. Although the trains are rated to go 240 km/h, in real world applications, the average for the proposed trains in North America is only 129 km/h, also known as cruise speed on the QE2.
Overall, high speed rail just isn't something that should be in the near future for Alberta as much as it would be cool.