I former lived in Lethbridge but am marooned in Edmonton due to family commitments. Given my druthers I'd rather live back in Lethbridge which I consider saner than Edmonton or Calgary. Down there I can usually walk to where I wan't to go.
Anyhow back to the topic, I'd like to make a few points
1. There will have to be an injection of private money to make this thing go. Public money will be needed to buy right of way and construct grade seperations. A private company/group would have to finance track, equipment and stations. Probably many of these grade seperations can be simpler and cheaper than the $75 million ones often constructed by the province.
2. It is true that a bullet type train is impractical due to the high costs and close tolerances of the track. France has a much more moderate climate than ours. More practically, a train capable of an average speed of 100 mi/hr makes more sense. Can this be done on the present railway rights of way with minimal cost for improved rail and grade seperation. Improved grade seperation would not be necessary if Alberta drivers were a bit more sane. A very high speed train 200+ mph is very much in the future but the less deluxe version might be doable much sooner.
3. It is true that public transit is an abortion both in Calgary and Edmonton, so are the roads. The rapid growth in both cities has made this a chronic problem which will take a long time to solve. If a train served downtown to downtown, use of a dedicated LRT train to pick up and drop off train only customers at LRT stops would alleviate traffic jam problems for passengers assuming that adequate parking was available at these stops. I do think many contributers have pointed out that public transportation is not integrated. Consider the poor guy from Nanton who wants to travel to London, England. Bus to Greyhound terminal, another bus or taxi to the Airport.
4. Seattle and Portland are bigger cities than Edmonton and Calgary nevertheless there are five trains a day between them funded by the states of Washington and Oregon. These trains are not very fast yet are apparently well patronized. There are large stretches of 3 lanes on interstate 5 between these two cities. There are even two trains a day between Seattle and Eugene. Eugene is a very small city of ~250000 (Calgary circa 1960). I think the example of Seattle Portland indicates that there is a case for Edmonton Calgary rail service.
5. All modes of tranportation need subsidies of some sort. The 10 miles of road improvements through the kicking horse pass will cost ~$750 million, I doubt that this can be recovered by road users. I made lots of money on PWA shares back in the 70's but wouldn't touch airline shares today. On average airline investors have lost money(i.e subsidized the air passengers).
6. In my younger years I could travel long distances by car without too much difficulty ex Edmonton to Portland in slightly over a day. I now find that I get tired over much shorter distances, I'm sure that there are many baby boomers in the same boat. I would just as soon take a train to Calgary than drive there. I find the traffic jams in both cities as well as the greater frequency of nuts on wheels makes the journey more tiring and dangerous. I suggest give us old farts (baby boomers) an option so that we can get off the highway and be less of a hazard to the younger drivers.
7. My elderly father is going to the Paris open next week, he will fly to London, take the Eurostar to Paris and then the metro to his hotel and the French open (no use of a car), maybe some day we will have well integrated public transportation in Edmonton and Calgary as they do in Europe.
8. In my university days I did enjoy my walks about Calgary when travelling by train from Lethbridge to Edmonton. Maybe more people can learn to enjoy the pleasures of walking over short distances.